It's the "Pick Your Poison" Plan... the 401-k-ization of medical care

[SoCalDem]

Home bartenders may not use this term anymore, but "back-in-the-day", the guy serving up liquor would ask his guests to pick their poison.. yuk-yuk-yuk..gimme scotch.

That's what the co-op plan will be..

We all pretty much know how the insurance behemoths operate by now, and if a choice between them is the choice it offers, we are only side-stepping..not moving ahead

Rules to not "deny" coverage are toothless, since a denial is not the issue, once an "unaffordable" premium is "offered" for previously denied coverage.

How will rules determine "affordability"?

Is creation of yet another agency (think Homeland Security) going to be needed , to monitor all these "co-ops"?

What's the "punishment" for insurors who participate long enough to collect premiums, and then decide to "opt out"?

This is the 401-k-ization of medical care. "yer on yer own, bud...choose wisely"..

Back when people were "eased" out of defined benefit pensions, they were sold a bill of goods called the 401-k.. Millions are now understanding what they gave up. They are broke now, facing their old age with a lot less than they would have had with that stodgy ole pension.. they forfeited money.

When this principle is applied to health care, they stand to lose their life.

[LooseWilly]

1. Your point about the "monitoring" requirement for the "co-op" system is particularly interesting.

A body (a gaggle of bureaucrats) that is tasked with monitoring the HMOs is only going to cost more money than the current system. The Systemic Costs are one of the biggest problems of the current system, so a "fix" that adds more cost in order to force insurance companies to provide coverage at rates that won't necessarily be affordable... is a laughable "reform".

I smile when I think of my Congresswoman voting against such stupidity. Viva La Izquierda!

(On the other hand, a "public option" doesn't require a monitoring body, because the rates of the option itself will provide an alternative to the unreasonable offerings of the insurance companies. It's not like this is really terribly complicated...)

[Birthmark]

2. But we have to pass *something*.

[dionysus]

3. i didn't know a bill with the co-op was passed and signed into law. interesting.