Do you have a life threatening disease? Are you presently uninsurable? The new health care proposal says if you don’t die within the 6 month grace period the government has set forth in policy, then the government will allow you into the system for life-threatening care. I am certain that once you qualify for this special insurance and you haven’t died, you will be placed in the “high risk” pool which will no less have more hurdles and hoops to jump through than a circus lion on opening night.
A FoxNews story states
“If you are a cancer patient and have cancer now, you can’t wait six months to go into a plan because your condition can go from bad to death,” said Stephen Finan, a policy expert with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. He called the waiting period in the Senate bill “unacceptable.”
Advocates for people with serious health problems, as well as some insurance experts, are raising questions about one of the most important upfront benefits in the Democratic health care legislation: a high-risk pool for the medically uninsurable.
Obama proposed the pool in his September health care speech to Congress. Intended to serve the most vulnerable as a temporary fail-safe, it would stay in place until 2013. That’s when insurance companies would be banned from denying coverage because of medical problems.
Senate Finance staffers say the time restriction is meant to prevent people switching from more expensive coverage to take advantage of government assistance.
The kicker is not only the waiting period but the amount of money that the 2 bills from the house and senate are proposing for a set aside for this high risk pool.
Now, concerns are being raised about the design of the high-risk pools. In addition to the six-month wait, there’s a more fundamental issue — whether $5 billion set aside for the three-year program is enough. The money would be used to help people in poor health pay premiums.
Obama credits his Republican presidential rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for the risk-pools idea. But when the GOP candidate proposed it in 2008, the estimated cost was $7 billion to $10 billion a year.
The story goes on to say…
“It doesn’t seem like it’s near enough money,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was a top domestic policy adviser for McCain. The McCain campaign ultimately concluded it could take as much as $20 billion a year to properly run risk pools, he said. The White House says McCain’s proposal was more elaborate and not directly comparable to Obama’s.
If the Democrats’ risk pool starts running out of money, the government may have to start a waiting list, raise premiums or take other unpopular measures. Congress could be asked for a bailout.
Several independent experts say concerns about the financing are valid.
“It would seem that ($5 billion) is going to be small relative to the need,” said Thomas Buchmueller, a University of Michigan business professor.
Some 30 states now have risk pools for those who can’t get health insurance on the private market, covering about 200,000 people at a cost of around $1 billion a year.
“This is clearly not going to be enough money to cover everybody,” said Pollitz.
Government sponsored health care is what some would call a GIGI. It is a good idea but not a great idea. In the arena of thought and experience (which the government is not a card carrying member) The professionals who do this for a living every day of the year are being told by this government that the wheel has been redesigned and will be more efficient, cost effective, competitive, and will magically pay for itself.
God help us if we have to ride this thing into our sunset years!
The last time the government got involved, this is what happened
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