Republican Health Care Plan Unveiled

[babylonsister]

Sam Stein
Republican Health Care Plan Unveiled

First Posted: 05-20-09 10:35 AM | Updated: 05-20-09 11:00 AM


Republicans in Congress are slated to unveil their health care reform plan on Wednesday, a proposal that relies heavily on private mechanisms, contains no individual mandate, and offers tax incentives for families and individuals to help pay for coverage.

Tilted "The Patients' Choice Act of 2009," the plan will be introduced by U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) and U.S. Representatives Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) at 11 a.m. The focus of the proposal -- an advanced copy of which was obtained by the Huffington Post -- is to push for a "guaranteed choice of coverage" in the private market through federal-state partnerships know as State Health Insurance Exchanges.

Individuals, the authors write, will have a "one-stop marketplace" to choose plans in the exchange, including the option of keeping their employer coverage and/or existing insurer. "Participating insurers," meanwhile, would be required to "offer coverage to any individual -- regardless of patient age or health history" though there is no mandate for an individual to purchase that insurance.

Where the plan seems likely to run into strong opposition is in its efforts to drastically move the insurance market away from employer-based or publicly operated plans. As championed by John McCain during the presidential campaign, The Patients' Choice Act of 2009 effectively ends to tax breaks for employers who provide health coverage to their workers, choosing instead to give a $5,710 tax cut to families and a $2,290 cut to individuals to help them pay for health insurance coverage. Critics insist that this system would end up costing both business and consumers more over the long term. And some objective analysts have agreed. After all, families are currently paying approximately $12,300 a year for health care today.

The notion that guaranteed choice can be achieved under the private market is also predicated on several debated notions. The first is that an effective enforcement mechanism can be put in pace requiring private insurers to offer coverage. The authors call for the creation of a non-profit, independent board "to penalize companies that cherry-pick health patients." The second concern is that the market itself might consolidate. The latter is already promising to be a big problem, a Democratic critic of the plan notes, as studies show the HMO and Preferred Provider Organization industries to be "highly-concentrated, or anti-competitive, in 96% of metropolitan areas."

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/20/republican-health-care-pl_n_205728.html

[MineralMan]

1. Here's their plan: Die if you can't afford care!

They've got theirs. Tough luck for the rest of you sorry assholes.

[liberal N proud]

2. For those who can't afford their plan it will still be you get sick you die

They don't understand the fact that Health Insurance is out of reach for many Americans.

[prolesunited]

3. Tax incentives?!?

If you can't afford to pay the premiums up front, WTF does tax incentives do? It only helps if you already have money.

And they will require insurers to offer cover. So, if you have pre-existing conditions, they can *offer* you coverage at $5,000 a month and still comply with the law. Too bad that won't really help anyone.

[kirby]

4. Wasn't this the Clinton plan?

"State Health Insurance Exchanges"? 50 plans, 50 bureaucracies, etc that the Repukes railed against.

[annabanana]

5. Even at 0% taxes on medical "accounts"... most people couldn't

save enough for one, very short, hospital stay. And letting 100% private interests be the "choices" positively DEMANDS price fixing and other corruption in the industry.

big load of horseshit...

great "choice"
Do you want Blue Cross to kill you or Aetna?

[kirby]

7. To be fair...

If the medical accounts are a Health Savings Account, it is tied to a high deductible plan. Once you exceed the deductible (say $2500), the rest is paid from the insurance. So a hospital stay would only cost $2500. Further procedures, hospotals stays in the same year would then cost nothing because you've already met the $2500 deductible. I know this, because I have an HSA.

However, with the above aside, I still think Single Payer is the best way to proceed.

[Cleita]

6. Same old idiotic economic model from the idiot side of the aisle.n/t

[krispos42]

8. And..... my head explodes

I don't understand any of this at all. I never have. This trips some hidden relay in my brain that instantly makes me angry and fustrated and want to beat these Republican assholes with my keyboard.



What I do understand is this: the point of health care is NOT maximum diversity in the bureaucracy that processes the bills. Having a choice of which company screws with you is not health care choice, nor it is effective.

Heath insurance companies don't cure people, doctors do.



They are making this unneccessarily complicated expressly for the purposes of corporate profit. Business concerns should be in EVERYTHING, apparantly. Unfettered enterprise is a goal unto itself, instead of a tool that the citizens use and control.

[Blackhatjack]

9. Similar to the Repub Solution to Credit Card Company Abuses ...

...Credit card holders should just pay off their balances if they don't like the increased interest rates and increased fees.

If you don't qualify for one of the tax breaks, and you need healthcare, just pay the medical bills out of pocket.

SIMPLE.

[subterranean]

10. Or just go the emergency room. They can't turn you away.

I've seen that argument from many conservatives, including Obama's predecessor.

[Blackhatjack]

11. Actually that is not entirely true ....

You usually have to go to a hospital that accepts some public funding which requires them to provide indigent care.

Unless your condition is life-threatening, it is not illegal for a private hospital to refer you to another hospital that provides indigent care and refuse to treat you. The news is full of cases where the patient died in transit.

[Coyote_Bandit]

12. Ummmm......

Health care ought not be tied to employment. If you had ever been notified by your employer at noon that effective midnight that day your health insurance would be terminated you just might agree.

Everyone who carries health insurance should be treated the same with respect to whether the insurance is obtained with pretax or after tax dollars. It is inequitable for some to carry individual policies and pay premiums with after tax dollars while others have policies that are obtained with nontaxable dollars/benefits. That doesn't mean that health insurance should be taxed - it means that anyone who purchases health insurance should be able to exclude the amount of their premiums from their taxable income.

It does not appear that the republican proposal mandates that individuals purchase individual policies - and then penalize those who cannot afford to do so. Or who prefer to maintain different coverages than those mandated (a la the Romney plan). These kinds of proposals are just insurance company ass kissing IMHO. They do little to address the price barriers that burden the neediest.

The republican plan does make private insurance available even though the patient has pre-existing conditions or a lapse in coverage.

That said, this proposal falls far short of what is needed. There will be folks who will be without meaningful access to health care until we enact some form of single payer system that insures that everyone has access to a minimum level of care. There is of course no reason why such a system could not also include optional supplemental private insurance coverages.

I have to say I am remarkably unimpressed by both the Dem and Repub healthcare reform proposals. But then I did not expect the spineless bastards we elected to do anuything but kiss the ass of the health care industry that helped finance their election.

[Johonny]

13. because buying stuff one at a time give all the power to the

insurance companies. If you work for a large company they have much better purchasing power than you the individual could ever hope to have. My company gets me a much better plan than I could ever hope to achieve, including no questions ask about preexisting conditions.