The plan will offer four ways "to make the insurance you have work better for you." It will: get rid of preexisting conditions as a reason to deny coverage; bar insurance companies from dropping coverage due to a major illness; limit "out of pocket" expenses; and require coverage for preventative care. These are all positive steps.
That's it for "security and stability." You can stay in your current plan. You can go elsewhere with certain long overdue guarantees of coverage but for those insured, there's no freedom to choose a Medicare-like public option or use the insurance "exchange" There's no security that you will ever see affordable health care.
Health insurance and pharmaceutical companies who have jacked up prices at record setting rates will be unimpeded.
The health care "exchange" that was part of Obama's campaign proposal is not available to those with insurance:
"But an
additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by
making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance
exchange. Let me be clear à ‚¬" it would only be an option for those who don't have insurance." Sept. 9
We're left to assume that "keeping the "insurance companies honest" is only a benefit saved for those citizens who are uninsured.
Those without Insurance
Those without insurance will be offered membership in "one big group" that will leverage their numbers to drive competition from insurance companies on a public "insurance exchange." The exchange aims to fulfill a huge promise:
"If you
strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to
get coverage. We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange à ‚¬" a
marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop
for health insurance at competitive prices." Sept. 9
What if you don't have a job? What if you have a job but can't afford the prices on the "exchange?" This was not addressed.
The president elaborated his argument for the "exchange:"
"Insurance
companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange
because it lets them compete for millions of new customers." Sept. 9
Who are the members of this group that the insurance companies will so desire? They're the uninsured, the people who get sicker more frequently and have great medical needs because they're uninsured. Is that an appealing market for companies who are in the business of excluding sick people? Is there some major group of very healthy uninsured ready to balance out the generally poor, low income uninsured?
To further bolster the insurance "exchange," Obama offered this argument:
"As one
big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with
the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is
how large companies and government employees get affordable
insurance." Sept. 9
No it isn't. The largest companies have "self funded" health insurance plans. They don't buy insurance coverage from the Blue Crosses of the world. They set up a fund for benefits that pays for employee health care. They hire out the administration of benefits to private insurance companies who issue checks and reimbursements but that money is from large companies. The entire "exchange" argument is based on a factual error. Since the assumption of competition underlies the "exchange," the plan crumbles for those without insurance.
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