Health Care Hoopla

Look for the administration to begin a media blitz on specific provisions of the health care bill that take effect this week.
Leave it to a politician to time the changes in the law to the election cycle. Democrats purposely made these provisions effective just before the election because they thought they would be perceived as consumer friendly and therefore equate to votes.

What the administration will tout as great for the consumer actually is expensive to the insurer, so as a result they are being force to raise rates to pay for the mandated changes. Instead of acknowledging that these mandated changes have any cost, this administration simply criticizes the insurance companies for raising rates.

Since when did every business in this country become a non-profit? Oh yeah, Jan. 2009. Under this administration any company that makes a profit is frowned upon and immediately a candidate for investigation and further government scrutiny.
Regulated mandates have a cost despite what politicians will have you believe. So not only are we spending way more money than we take in each month, we are taking more and more money out of the taxpayer’s pocket through all of this government intervention.

So what are the health care changes that are going to take effect this Thursday?

1. Children over 18, but under the age of 25 can now remain on their parents' health plan.
Most insurers already provide this coverage as long as the child is a student. This change is likely to help some jobless young adults. Rules adopted after the law passed say insurers must charge the same for children regardless of age. That is good news for those with infants and older children who buy individual coverage—they previously paid more to cover the expensive first two years and those in their 20s—bad news for most others. What this means for insurers is more people insured on the same policy.

2. Preventive Care - New plans, sold after 9-23-10, must provide dozens of preventive services without charging a copayment. While a nice idea, it has cost implications for the insurance companies in the form of lost revenue formerly provided in the form of copayments.

3. Removal of Lifetime Benefit Cap - No lifetime limits on benefit payouts. Most plans today have some maximum amount that the insurance company will pay out over the lifetime of an individual. Many employer sponsored plans have lower lifetime limits than plans purchased by individuals. Again, while a nice idea, it is not without financial impact to the insurance company.

4. Phase out of Annual Limits – similar to the lifetime limit on benefits, this ruling begins to phase out annual limits on benefit payouts, starting by making the limit no less than $750,000. Several employer and individual plans can either get a waiver or will be exempt.

5. Pre-Existing Condition waiver for children - Insurers can't deny children coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. Regulators broadened the provision so that insurers, in effect, must guarantee coverage to all consumers under age 19.

While it is hard to argue that these changes are not beneficial to consumers, for the most part, it is also equally true to state that these come at a cost. Then when the insurers try to point out this fact they are threatened by the current administration.

In fact, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association of health insurers, calling on their members to stop using scare tactics and misinformation to falsely blame premium increases for 2011 on the patient protections in the Affordable Care Act. She further warned insurers that states have new resources under the Affordable Care Act to crack down on unjustified premium increases.

I am fed up with playing politics with every aspect of our life. Can anyone in Washington be honest with “We the People?”