The GOP's Fake Solution for People With Pre-Existing Conditions

[babylonsister]

The GOP's Pre-Existing Ideology
Why the Republican plan to insure the already-ill doesn't work.
Jonathan Cohn


You’d have to be pretty cold-hearted to think somebody should go without insurance just because she has a kid with asthma, was born with diabetes, or survived a bout of breast cancer--just three of the conditions that today would render an individual “uninsurable” in the eyes of the industry.

To fix this problem, President Obama and the Democrats would prohibit insurers from denying coverage, or even charging higher rates, to people with pre-existing medical conditions. It’s one of the most stubbornly popular elements of their reform plan, one Republicans have found virtually impossible to attack, at least directly. It’s also given the Democrats a great talking point. Whenever Republicans say the country would be better off without reform, Democrats respond by asking what the Republican answer to pre-existing conditions is.

Lately, though, Republicans have been insisting they have an answer after all: “high-risk pools.” The idea, as the name suggests, is to separate the people with serious medical conditions from the rest of the population and give them a special insurance plan of their own. The House Republican plan sponsored by Minority Leader John Boehner calls for creating high-risk plans as part of a program that will "guarantee access" to care; House Minority Whip Eric Cantor was talking up the idea Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Republicans boast that creating these pools will reduce premiums for many Americans. Remember, a typical insurance arrangement includes both healthy and unhealthy beneficiaries: Premiums from the healthy ones end up subsidizing the very high medical expenses of the unhealthy ones. If you remove the unhealthy people from that arrangement and stick them in the high risk-pools, then everybody else’s premiums suddenly get a lot cheaper.

But then what happens to the people in the high-risk pools? Without premiums from healthy people to help defray the costs of their medical care, these people face astronomically high premiums--more than all but the wealthiest Americans could afford. The only way to make the high-risk pools work is to infuse them with extra money from some outside source.

And that’s where the problems start. High-risk pools are not a new idea. They exist in more than 30 states and rely upon government money for those infusions of extra cash. But the cash is never sufficient, which isn’t terribly surprising. The pools serve a small population without a ton of political clout. There’s a saying in politics, that programs for poor people tend to stay poor. Well, the same applies here: Programs for sick people tend to stay sick.

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http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-gops-pre-existing-ideology

[Chulanowa]

1. I wish I had the faith in humanity needed to believe the Republicans are actually clueless

But I don't. These sick fucks know exactly what they're saying and what they're promoting. They're filth.

[Cha]

4. Faith in humanity is good...just not

this lower form.

[northofdenali]

5. Unfortunately, repukes aren't human.

They are comprised of large molecules of bigotry, fear, and god-sucking.

[OHdem10]

2. Do they really believe the Insurance Companies would have ever

agreed to give up: No existing conditions No Life Time caps.

They are willing to pass on these provisions in return for
lots of new customers.

Just having pools does not mean people will automatically particpate.

[Bitwit1234]

3. Just think tho = today you are well and sturdy

you are in the no risk pool ...tomorrow YOU have cancer, a heart attack or a heart condition like cheney where you need a new pace maker ever year. Course he has all the money in the world and could afford it without us paying his health bill, but suppose just suppose the average American needed it he couldn't afford those kind of premiums.

Look at the cost of cancer and those premiums would be. It is better to spread it around thru the whole group of health care patients because down the road you look at the fact that you might need it some day and paying a slightly higher cost now would save you from an out of sight price later.

And the stupid ignorant asinine health accounts is stupid ignorant and asinine. How many people could pay into an account and accumulate enough money to pay at $10,000 dollar doctor or hospital bill in five years much less maybe one year. Those republicans have money running out of their butts with all the lobbyist from health companies and they wouldn't care.

[Kablooie]

6. Asthma? You are now a ward of the state. Diabetes? You are now a ward of the state.

You get cancer.
Why now you are a ward of the state!

Simple and easy.

I don't care if the health bill is only a fraction of what is needed.
Something has to get started to prevent these Republican assholes from implementing their bills.

[rasputin1952]

7. The reality of their "proposal" is to ensure people die...

they have no intention of helping anyone.

[dmr]

8. A bonus for the insurance companies. Low-risk means they get to keep

most of the money paid into the system because there is little to payout on claims.

BUT ... once you get sick, then they'll find a way to switch you over to high-risk - and rest assured they'll find a way to screw that up for the patient.

As example:
My mother had heart problems and was maintained on Lasix to keep her from going into CHF (congested heart failure). She was active, spry, and healthy despite her heart. She was hospitalized briefly in the summer of 1994, and released with a relatively good bill of health.

By spring of 1995, she became very weak, unable to eat, and suffered tremendous pain in her right shoulder. She was admitted to the hospital, but they took her off Lasix. My sister, who was there at the time, told them she'd go into CHF if Lasix wasn't restarted. That night mom was in cardiac ICU with CHF.

Mom got through this & was released, but was still doing poorly. Sister & I took mom to the ER at a teaching hospital (my employer at the time, and was not an authorized hospital by mom's supplemental insurance carrier).

To make a long story short, mom had lung cancer. The medical records showed they made this diagnosis during her 1994 hospitalization.

They did not tell her, nor any members of the family, even though we always took turns spending every night in the hospital with her!) I am convinced the goal here was to let her die from CHF either naturally or induced by the discontinuance of her Lasix in the spring 1995 ER visit. They chose to let her suffer from the incredible shoulder pain; telling her she was overly dramatic. They played Death Panel on her. My son calls it pre-meditated murder.

Mom's pain was finally alleviated with morphine, and, ever the fighter, she chose chemo, but only briefly. She was then placed in the loving care of Hospice, and during the summer, she died at home with family surrounding her.

At first the insurance carrier fought & refused to pay for her care, but then paid the whole thing giving her many choices without a whimper. But it took the doctors & a vice-president at my hospital to ream them, the previous hospital, and doctor a new one.

Per mom's wishes, no one was sued (mom was convinced it would hurt my career). I wanted to, believe me. It wasn't about money, it was about what happens to people who they decide is not worthy of cutting into their profit margin.

So when I said up above that the insurance companies will find a way to screw the high-risk patients, I say it from this heart-breaking experience and I believe it with every fiber of my being.

I have nothing but disdain for Sarah Palin, and all the other liars who discuss Death Panels. Those only real Death Panels are exclusively in the powerful, unregulated hands of the money-making industry, and those who collude with them.

Never trust a for-profit. Your best interest is not what they consider their best interest.

Sorry, I tried to keep this brief.

[denimgirly]

9. PATHETIC! Luckily my family has never had a history of ANYTHING and live very long lives but....

being one of the rare few who are genetically and everyday lucky for generations i just dont see it fair or smart to split the unhealthy from my group. You can just tell it would be more profitable for the insurers and our premiums although would go down slightly will go up. And the cost to the unhealthy would be so astronomical that the subsidies would be so high and payed by the government that we'd probably end up in a bigger hole than we are now.

This silly games on both sides has to end...we need Single Payer or the lesser effective Public Option. Anything else is just silly dilly-dallying.