More on Health Care

Health Care Reform???

I see from the morning paper that Obama has another plan. I hope somebody somewhere understands this thing, it’s way over my head . Let’s examine it point by point, though. My source is the Jacksonville Times Union February 23, 2010.
It says to start with that the bill would cover 31 million uninsured Americans – that’s about 10% of the population.

The “insurance mandate” says if you don’t buy insurance you pay a fine. Can you believe that?? However, if you make less than what they incorrectly call the “tax-filing threshold” you are exempt. They are calling $45,295 the tax filing threshold for a family of four. That’s actually the amount where you start to pay in instead of collecting from the public coffers. And by the way, a lot more than 10% of the population falls in that category.

Market reforms? Insurance is in the business of risk management. Essentially, they forecast how much individuals who fit particular risk categories are likely to spend on health care in a long term and collect that money in advance in premiums. Obviously if you are a young person in excellent health you are a lower risk than an old guy like me and that is reflected in your premiums. Now under the new government plan, insurance companies would have to charge everyone the same thing and they would have to cover any medical condition including pre-existing. It sure seems to me that everyone would pay the highest premiums that are out there. Of course, many people would have to drop their coverage and pay the fine instead.

Now let’s talk about Medicaid. That’s to be expanded to cover people with 133% of the FEDERAL poverty level. The government would pay 100% of the program through 2017 after which time they could blame the cost on the party in power at that time. The interesting thing about this point is that it’s a FEDERAL poverty level. They’re calling it $29,327 for a family of four. I’m thinking that in New York City or anywhere in California that’s a lot less money than it is in a small town in the south.

Taxes on insurance? Here’s a good one. Under this plan, if you already have a good health care policy you will have to pay tax on it. It was supposed to go into effect in 2013, but the new plan moves it back to 2018 in response to the screaming from the labor unions who generally have the best health care plans. I guess the idea is that the Republicans will be in power by 2018 and they can blame the plan on them.

Employer responsibility – If I have a handle on this one, it says that if you are an employer with more than 50 employees and don’t have a health care plan and the government subsidizes employees coverage then you must pay $2000 per employee to the government. Whew, I don’t get that one at all.

Subsidies – As I understand it, this is another government handout. If you make up to 4 times the federal poverty level ($88000 for a family of four) then the government provides a “generous subsidy” for your health insurance. Now remember that people in the $80k area are taxpayers. They provide the money that the government is going to give back to them. I really have to wonder who thought this thing up.

Now there’s even more “stuff” in this bill and I’m not addressing all of it because it makes no sense and is very unlikely to pass in its current form. I simply want folks to notice what is being done here. It’s easy to ignore the whole thing because it’s so complicated that no one understands it – and that’s EXACTLY WHAT THEY POLITICANS WANT YOU TO DO! Historically, once a law is passed it is extremely difficult to get rid of it and put Humpty back together again. Step up and be heard. Let your lawmakers know what YOU want. More and more people are starting to do just that and it’s having an effect. Otherwise this ridiculous bill would have already passed in an even worse form.
That’s what I think, how about you?