FACT CHECK - Hillary's Health Plan doesn't cover all

[FrenchieCat]

January 21, 2008

MANDATES DON'T LOWER COSTS
Massachusetts Officials Concede Mandates Don't Lead To Universal Coverage. "Jon M. Kingsdale, executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the agency that markets the subsidized insurance policies...acknowledged that their universal coverage plan is not likely to be universal anytime soon. 'There's good evidence,' Mr. Kingsdale said, 'whether it's buying auto insurance or wearing seat belts or motorcycle helmets, that mandates don't work 100 percent.'"

One In Five Uninsured In Massachusetts Will Be Exempt From The Mandate, Individual Mandate Would Only Apply To "Those Who Can Afford The Premiums." The Boston Globe reported, "Interestingly, the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the bureaucrats in charge of implementing the plan, decided that the universal individual mandate does not apply to everyone, but rather only those who can afford the premiums. Therefore, nearly one in five of the currently uninsured will be exempt from the law."




OBAMA COVERS EVERYONE UNDER HIS PLAN

Washington Post: "It Could Be A Struggle For Clinton To Find Someone Who Wants Health Insurance But Doesn't Qualify Under The Obama Plan, Because It's Not Clear Such A Person Exists." The Washington Post reported, "For people who want to get health insurance and make an effort to do so, Clinton and Obama have almost exactly the same plan …It could be a struggle for Clinton to find someone who wants health insurance but doesn't qualify under the Obama plan, because it's not clear such a person exists."




MORE PEOPLE WOULD COMPLY WITH OBAMA'S PLAN

Antos: Obama's "Health Care Plan Could Actually Have A Better Compliance Rate" Than Hillary's. The New York Times reported, "Mr. Obama's health plan could actually have a better compliance rate. The 15 million who would supposedly be left out equal about 5 percent of the population — a smaller portion than are going without auto insurance, said Joseph Antos, a health policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan group."

Reich: Obama's Health Care Plan Would Cover "More People" Than Hillary's. "I've compared the two plans in detail. Both of them are big advances over what we have now. But in my view Obama's would insure more people, not fewer, than HRC's. That's because Obama's puts more money up front and contains sufficient subsidies to insure everyone who's likely to need help – including all children and young adults up to 25 years old…In short: They're both advances, but O's is the better of the two. HRC has no grounds for alleging that O's would leave out 15 million people."


CLINTON PLAN WILL NOT INCLUDE EVERYONE
Clinton Campaign Health Care Adviser: Clinton's Health Care Plan Will Not Include Everybody. "MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber, one of Clinton's health care advisers…acknowledges that the Clinton plan will not include everybody. 'Any system that does not have a single payer will not have 100 per cent coverage,' he told me, when I reached him after the Las Vegas debate. 'But you can come very close.'"

Clinton's Plan Could Leave Out As Many As 4.5 Million People. The Washington Post wrote, "The system proposed by Clinton is more analagous to the government-subsidized private insurance system in the Netherlands, where roughly one and a half per cent of the population is estimated to fall through the cracks." One and a half percent of the US population is 4.5 million people.

Harvard Program On Public Opinion And Health And Social Policy's Robert Blendon: Clinton's Health Care Plan Isn't Going To Cover Everybody. "Robert Blendon, director of the Harvard Program on Public Opinion and Health and Social Policy 'At the end of the day…it's not going to be everybody.'"

Urban Institute's John Holohan: Clinton's Plan Won't Eliminate The Problem Of Uninsured Altogether. John Holohan, the author of a study conducted at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank, does not believe that either the Clinton or the Obama plan will eliminate the problem of the uninsured altogether. "We would all be very happy if we got down to one and a half per cent," he said.
http://factcheck.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/01/21/mandates_dont_lower_costs.php

[greyl]

1. This isn't the best way to get your message across.

I doubt anyone will read all of these posts. One post with all the links would probably be more effective.

[FrenchieCat]

2. I am taking them to my journal......

and will use them everytime one is required....depending on which fact is being twisted.

Many folks don't go to links.

Tomorrow, I will refine and bold and highlight the main points, and will do more of my own research to add additional information. I'm just too tired to do it tonight.

But I do thank you for your suggestion!

:hi:

[greyl]

3. Ah, forgot about the journal angle. But even so... ;) nt

[lvx35]

4. How does Obama's plan cover homeless women for instance?

If it does, I really want to know, because it would be a HUGE selling point for him, his lack of universal coverage has me backing Hillary. Yet this post says his plan covers everybody. What's the deal?

[FrenchieCat]

5. The same way that Hillary's plan does.......

Because Hillary's plan only uses mandates....meaning everyone has to pay to be insured. Doesn't say that her plan will actually pay for those who can't afford it....and in fact, those who can't pay will be fined or exempted out.

[lvx35]

6. That's not true, Hillary's plan covers everybody, using subsidies for those who can't afford it.

At least that's what I've heard. Let me see if I can dig you up a link.

edit: here ya go:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/17/health.care/index.html
Federal subsidies would be provided for those who are not able to afford insurance, and large businesses would be expected to provide or help pay for their employees' insurance.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Obama offers the subsidies too.....

Subsidies. Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need financial assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.

Mandatory Coverage of Children: Obama will require that all children have health care coverage. Obama will expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage, including allowing young people up to age 25 to continue coverage through their parents' plans.

Expansion Of Medicaid and SCHIP: Obama will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve their critical safety net function.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

[lvx35]

9. Apparently, he has less money in his subsidies:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/07/5687/

"In fact, the Edwards and Clinton plans contain more money for such subsidies than the Obama plan. If low-income families find insurance unaffordable under these plans, they’ll find it even less affordable under the Obama plan."

"Look, the point of a mandate isn’t to dictate how people should live their lives - it’s to prevent some people from gaming the system. Under the Obama plan, healthy people could choose not to buy insurance, then sign up for it if they developed health problems later. This would lead to higher premiums for everyone else. It would reward the irresponsible, while punishing those who did the right thing and bought insurance while they were healthy."

It still looks to me like its not a universal plan...To achieve universal coverage, you need all the healthy people paying in from the time they are young.

[dsc]

8. The text doesn't agree with the headline

No where, no where at all in your quoted text, does the issue of cost come up.

[FrenchieCat]

12. Changed.

Thanks.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. No they don't but...

they are still a good option to discuss when actually hammering out a working plan.

Germany, for instance, has a lot more experience with mandates than Massachusetts.

[lvx35]

11. see post #9. It makes sense to me that mandates DO lower costs.

Because they make the healthy people pay into the system, instead of letting them wait till they get sick or older.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. You're right in theory, but...

back in the 50s and early 60s, when health plans started becoming common, people found themselves with all sorts of ailments they had no idea they had when uninsured.

Later, under Medicaid, the theories of preventive medicine saving money landed on their heads when people were diagnosed with all sorts of horrible things they never knew they had. Then they got treated, which cost a bundle. (That may have changed if there was actual preventive medicine ever practiced.)

Before that, though, they just died, which cost very little.

Anyway, it's often difficult to anticipate just how the system will actually work when put into place.