Healthcare Reform

The debate over healthcare reform and national health insurance.

Many of us are aware there has been great debate in this country about healthcare reform and health insurance. At USA-HealthInsurance.com, we are on the front lines of health insurance and see the real costs each and every day. We constantly shop all the top insurance companies to find the best rates and benefits for our clients. I would like to share some thoughts I have on the subject as well as comments from some very informed sources as to what effects the proposed changes may have if they are allowed to become law.

The most recent proposal circulating through our national government wants to outlaw individual private health insurance which would force everyone to buy from the government. At first glance buying from the government sounds appealing; reduce costs and buy from one central place. However, plans run by other governments have not performed as promised.

The surest way the government can control healthcare costs is to ration healthcare as has been done in Britain, Canada, and other countries that have adopted national programs. I suspect that you along with most other Americans do not want the government giving out numbers to wait in line for care or denying healthcare because of rationing.

In fact, Massachusetts has already experimented with universal healthcare and it cannot be sustained. See the following article: http://www.ibdeditorials.com and a excerpt below:

Bay State Rationing: Health Care: Massachusetts' universal medical program is no longer universal. Coverage is being dropped for 30,000 because not enough money is around to pay for everyone. There's a lesson in this for Congress.

The current proposal also wants to extend coverage to 20% of the population that is uninsured largely by choice or prohibitive healthcare costs. In addition, the current proposal offers no way to screen illegal immigrants that would surely sign up for the plan subsidized by American tax dollars. One of the best articles concerning the economics of health care reform was published in the WSJ by an economist and is attached to this email. The article makes this observation about adding 20% more people to the current system:

"Think a moment. Suppose you are in an apple market with 100 buyers and 100 sellers every day and apples sell for $1 a pound. Suddenly one day 120 buyers show up. Will the price of the apples go up or down?"

In addition, the Investors Business Daily has written a series on the subject ( http://www.ibdeditorials.com/series26.aspx ) and made the following comment:

When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.

It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

So what is the solution? Part one is to mandate that everyone be insured and health insurance companies offer guaranteed acceptance. Part two is to lower healthcare costs by getting the consumer more involved in directing where their money goes. Part three is to reduce utilization by giving providers different incentives than they have now.

How can you make your voice heard? Write your senator and representative via the links below. You'd be surprised to find out that they really do listen and your comments matter. If you oppose a government run program you can write you senator and representative by clicking here and using the template letter provided or write your own comments to this page on www.nahu.org

Keep government out of health care and avoid the rationing and reduced care that will come with it.

Please take a minute and get involved with the NAHU link above.