Senator Takes Initiative on Health Care

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

WASHINGTON — Without waiting for President-elect Barack Obama, Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, will unveil a detailed blueprint on Wednesday to guarantee health insurance for all Americans by facilitating sales of private insurance, expanding Medicaid and Medicare, and requiring most employers to provide or pay for health benefits.

Aides to Mr. Obama said they welcomed the Congressional efforts.

...

The plan proposed by Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, would eventually require everyone to have health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies for those who could not otherwise afford it.

...

Mr. Baucus would create a nationwide marketplace, a “health insurance exchange,” where people could compare and buy insurance policies. The options would include private insurance policies and a new public plan similar to Medicare. Insurers could no longer deny coverage to people who had been sick. Congress would also limit insurers’ ability to charge higher premiums because of a person’s age or prior illness.

People would have a duty to obtain coverage when affordable options were available to all through employers or through the insurance exchange. This obligation “would be enforced, possibly through the tax system,” the plan says.

...

In his plan, Mr. Baucus makes these proposals:

* People age 55 to 64 should be able to buy Medicare coverage if they do not have access to a public insurance program or a group health plan. More than four million people in this age group are uninsured.

* Medicaid would be available to everyone below the poverty level, providing at least seven million more people with access to the program. In many states, adults with incomes well below the poverty level — $17,600 for a family of three — are ineligible for Medicaid.

* The State Children’s Health Insurance Program would be expanded to cover all uninsured youngsters in families with incomes at or below 250 percent of the poverty level ($44,000 for a family of three). This would raise the income limit in about half the states.

Mr. Baucus would also make it easier for many legal immigrants to qualify for Medicaid and the children’s health program. Under current law, such immigrants are generally barred from the programs in their first five years in the United States. He would lift that ban.

More than half of all Americans receive coverage through employers, and Mr. Baucus said he wanted to halt the erosion of such coverage. He would offer tax credits to small businesses to help them defray the costs of providing health benefits to employees.

To make insurance more affordable for those who buy coverage on their own, Mr. Baucus would offer tax credits to individuals and families with incomes at or below four times the poverty level ($70,400 for a family of three).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/washington/12health.html

[tom&tata 2]

How is it going to be paid?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

How is it going to be paid?

Chuck Norris is gonna fund it.

Edited November 12, 2008 by A.J.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I really hope something is done to address this issue. Its criminal frankly that healthcare policy hasn't been taken more seriously before now. That and the "me me me" attitudes that pervade the conversation. Why be part of a country at all if you don't want to contribute to it and the well-being of your countrymen.

BTW - My SIL just got laid off and found out that same week that she's going to have a baby. We're happy for her of course, but kinda worried about how they're going to handle the medical stuff.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I really hope something is done to address this issue. Its criminal frankly that healthcare policy hasn't been taken more seriously before now. That and the "me me me" attitudes that pervade the conversation. Why be part of a country at all if you don't want to contribute to it and the well-being of your countrymen.

BTW - My SIL just got laid off and found out that same week that she's going to have a baby. We're happy for her of course, but kinda worried about how they're going to handle the medical stuff.

Congrats to your SIL! Is she COBRA-eligible, then she gets 18 months of (higher cost) coverage.

[Teacher Mark 53]

I have BCBS, so screw you Commies.

[Mononoke28 135]

At least someone is trying to brainstorm ideas to fix this astronomical problem that affects most of us. The richest country in the world and we can't help other people get insurance, that just baffles me.

I know in Colombia for example, anyone who has health insurance through their employer can not only get coverage for their spouse and children but for their parents as well. That right there would automatically cover a lot of people without much effort. But of course health insurance companies are too greedy to let that happen here in the US.

Diana

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

At least someone is trying to brainstorm ideas to fix this astronomical problem that affects most of us. The richest country in the world and we can't help other people get insurance, that just baffles me.

I know in Colombia for example, anyone who has health insurance through their employer can not only get coverage for their spouse and children but for their parents as well. That right there would automatically cover a lot of people without much effort. But of course health insurance companies are too greedy to let that happen here in the US.

Diana

Yup, true in India as well. We define 'family' differently here, haven't you noticed in definitions of immediate family it never includes parents? In India it does, would be unthinkable not to.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I really hope something is done to address this issue. Its criminal frankly that healthcare policy hasn't been taken more seriously before now. That and the "me me me" attitudes that pervade the conversation. Why be part of a country at all if you don't want to contribute to it and the well-being of your countrymen.

BTW - My SIL just got laid off and found out that same week that she's going to have a baby. We're happy for her of course, but kinda worried about how they're going to handle the medical stuff.

Congrats to your SIL! Is she COBRA-eligible, then she gets 18 months of (higher cost) coverage.

Aren't the premiums for that pretty high?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I really hope something is done to address this issue. Its criminal frankly that healthcare policy hasn't been taken more seriously before now. That and the "me me me" attitudes that pervade the conversation. Why be part of a country at all if you don't want to contribute to it and the well-being of your countrymen.

BTW - My SIL just got laid off and found out that same week that she's going to have a baby. We're happy for her of course, but kinda worried about how they're going to handle the medical stuff.

Congrats to your SIL! Is she COBRA-eligible, then she gets 18 months of (higher cost) coverage.

Aren't the premiums for that pretty high?

Yes, it will be the sum of employer + employee contribution. It's high but still a group rate, and it does ensure continuity of coverage which is nice to have until they find coverage of their own.

[Mononoke28 135]

I really hope something is done to address this issue. Its criminal frankly that healthcare policy hasn't been taken more seriously before now. That and the "me me me" attitudes that pervade the conversation. Why be part of a country at all if you don't want to contribute to it and the well-being of your countrymen.

BTW - My SIL just got laid off and found out that same week that she's going to have a baby. We're happy for her of course, but kinda worried about how they're going to handle the medical stuff.

Congrats to your SIL! Is she COBRA-eligible, then she gets 18 months of (higher cost) coverage.

Aren't the premiums for that pretty high?

I remember when I got laid off back in 2005 and was eligible for Cobra. They gave me a quote of $480 per month, I was only able to keep it for 1 month and then spent the next 2½ years uninsured.

Diana

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I really hope something is done to address this issue. Its criminal frankly that healthcare policy hasn't been taken more seriously before now. That and the "me me me" attitudes that pervade the conversation. Why be part of a country at all if you don't want to contribute to it and the well-being of your countrymen.

BTW - My SIL just got laid off and found out that same week that she's going to have a baby. We're happy for her of course, but kinda worried about how they're going to handle the medical stuff.

Congrats to your SIL! Is she COBRA-eligible, then she gets 18 months of (higher cost) coverage.

Aren't the premiums for that pretty high?

I remember when I got laid off back in 2005 and was eligible for Cobra. They gave me a quote of $480 per month, I was only able to keep it for 1 month and then spent the next 2½ years uninsured.

Diana

That's kind of what I thought.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

An interesting diary on Daily Kos.

Why Mandated Insurance Sucks - a Primer

An excerpt:

... mandated insurance is a tax on people for being poor or lower-middle class. It will do NOTHING to solve the real problem or the real need, which is guaranteed access to affordable care. The subsidies will prove inadequate as has been shown in Massachusetts. The mandate will be widely evaded, as shown in Massachusetts. The public option will become the dumping ground for the for-profit insurers who want to get rid of the sick. And that will in turn drive up the costs of the public option and cause a political crisis that will give ammunition to enemies of government action on health care.

...

... health insurers as a matter of basic business practice must deny care and claims to maintain profitability - they have to take in more money than they pay out ... this means health insurers routinely deny care.

...

What all of this demonstrates is that health insurance is NOT health care. Health insurance is no guarantee of health care. Health insurance is nothing more than you paying some company. That's it. Whether you actually get health care is another matter entirely.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What all of this demonstrates is that health insurance is NOT health care. Health insurance is no guarantee of health care. Health insurance is nothing more than you paying some company. That's it. Whether you actually get health care is another matter entirely.[/i]

Its a cut-throat *business* all right. Literally.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

An interesting diary on Daily Kos.

Why Mandated Insurance Sucks - a Primer

An excerpt:

... mandated insurance is a tax on people for being poor or lower-middle class. It will do NOTHING to solve the real problem or the real need, which is guaranteed access to affordable care. The subsidies will prove inadequate as has been shown in Massachusetts. The mandate will be widely evaded, as shown in Massachusetts. The public option will become the dumping ground for the for-profit insurers who want to get rid of the sick. And that will in turn drive up the costs of the public option and cause a political crisis that will give ammunition to enemies of government action on health care.

...

... health insurers as a matter of basic business practice must deny care and claims to maintain profitability - they have to take in more money than they pay out ... this means health insurers routinely deny care.

...

What all of this demonstrates is that health insurance is NOT health care. Health insurance is no guarantee of health care. Health insurance is nothing more than you paying some company. That's it. Whether you actually get health care is another matter entirely.

Sad but true. I am surprised that more hasn't been made of the legality of essentially forcing people, by way of financial penalty, to buy a very expensive product from a private, and in most cases for-profit, company, as in the Massachusetts law.

It's quite a mess we're in.