President Obama has spent the last several months trying to convince the majority of Americans who are put off by his health care refrom proposals that their fears are brought on by media hype. All of the negatives associated with public or government-run health care are just myths and how funny it is that a lot of us seem to have this notion that we'll be sacrificing a lot of our personal freedoms when it comes to health care reform. A recent article by Shawn Tully of Fortune and CNNMoney.com highlights just how accurate some of our fears are. The two bills put forth, one backed by democrats in the House and the other by the late Sen. Kennedy's health commitee, both seem to verify many of the fears President Obama is trying to quiet. The most interesting of these being the freedom to keep your existing plan (for more than five years) and the freedom to choose your own doctors. Or maybe the part of the plan that stops rewarding those who live healthier lifestyles, costing the insurance companies less money overall. People who say, quit smoking for example.
To read the full article visit http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/24/news/economy/health_care_reform_obama.fortune/
I think this is one of the best articles posted, because it really examines the repercussions of the pending health care legislation. I found the author's second point about the community rating system particularly interesting. For months, there has been general consensus in favor of some means to protect those with preexisting conditions from being discriminated against by insurance companies. While the author acknowledges this need, he shows how a community rating system benefits some, while adversly affecting many others. I would have like to seen a counter plan proposed by the author, though.
ReplyDeleteThe analysis of the bill's effect on high deductible, low premium health plans was also informative. The article illustrates how these often desired plans would be threatened by a minimum threshold imposed by the federal government on the contents of all health plans. Despite the President's rhetoric that a public option would aid competition, it seems that in many respects it would act as a monopoly, with power to influence price and limit the options available to consumers.