A few problems
Shawn Tully has read the two main Obamacare bills and has a few comments and concerns. (Among his thoughts: “Freedom to keep your existing plan — This is the freedom that the President keeps emphasizing. Yet the bills appear to say otherwise.”) Fortune:
President Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans — and that the benefits and access they prize will be enhanced through reform. A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Health committee, contradict the President’s assurances. To be sure, it isn’t easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage…
the Obama plan enshrines into federal law one of the worst features of state legislation: community rating. Eleven states, ranging from New York to Oregon, have some form of community rating. In its purest form, community rating requires that all patients pay the same rates for their level of coverage regardless of their age or medical condition.
Americans with pre-existing conditions need subsidies under any plan, but community rating is a dubious way to bring fairness to health care. The reason is twofold: First, it forces young people, who typically have lower incomes than older workers, to pay far more than their actual cost, and gives older workers, who can afford to pay more, a big discount. The state laws gouging the young are a major reason so many of them have joined the ranks of uninsured.
Under the Senate plan, insurers would be barred from charging any more than twice as much for one patient vs. any other patient with the same coverage. So if a 20-year-old who costs just $800 a year to insure is forced to pay $2,500, a 62-year-old who costs $7,500 would pay no more than $5,000. Second, the bills would ban insurers from charging differing premiums based on the health of their customers.
It’s worth reading the entire piece. If Tully hasn’t identified enough problems for you, try reading this.
August 9th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
And on top of that, the government would have the authority to go into your bank account and withdraw your premium whether you authorized it or not. Welcome to our Brave New World.