More on Health Care Reform

Here’s another easy-to-read article about “stealth” care reform from CNN.  If you have employer-based health insurance, this could effect you and your employer.   And, for some, not in a good way.   Remember, that if your employer’s costs are going up, those cost increases are going to be passed along to you.   I especially like one of the comments following the article:

“This is why there should be no employer-sponsored plans. Coverage should be maintained by the individual. Companies should reimburse the individual, but the individual carrying coverage creates ultimate portability. For those of us that do pay our own premiums, there should be a tax credit, dollar for dollar for those costs, after, say, $2000, per person. If one doesn’t carry insurance, then the fine should be the equivalent of what it would cost for a comparable catastrophic coverage plan in the free market, not some minimal fine. The annual fines that are being proposed are less than I pay for one month of premiums.”

Many people will choose to just pay the fine instead of buying into the health insurance pool.   They’ll wait until they get sick or injured, buy into the insurance pool, get lots of medical services (which the rest of us will wind up paying for), then drop out of the insurance pool and go back to paying the low-cost fine.  The result?  The cost of buying into the insurance pool will skyrocket.   It’s just simple arithmetic.

And don’t go thinking that the proposed “exchanges” are going to fix the problem.  They will be the problem.  Sad to say, but historically this concept has not worked in any state, ever.

Yes, I know… everyone is aching for ObamaCare to work, and I hope it makes a difference in everyone’s lives.   I just don’t think it’s going to make the sort of difference you’re hoping for.   There may be bits and pieces of the legislation that will be helpful, but overall, not so much.