Health Care Reform Or Welfare Program - - - Who Pays The Bill?
The Pearly Pigpen has released increased of its health care reform clarification emails - - - there will be more. It seems strange to me that the focus is on insurance coverage fairly than on the spiraling costs of health care itself.
Frankly, the drafters of the insurance reforms have little, if any, understanding of insurance, risk assessment, or underwriting - - - and nary a clue about running a business. But why should they care? This is Robin Hood politics, not business. Why do we maintain to re - elect them is a far better question.
Incidentally, I am not a health insurance salesman or healthcare ace - - - just a payer of far too much in small - group insurance premiums in hate of a flipped out - high deductible!
Insurance is neither a cost of getting healthcare services nor an equivalent associated with those services. Insurance is an agreement in which a private company agrees to pay part of someone supplementary ' s medical expenses in exchange for premiums it collects in advance from all of its insureds.
If President Obama owned the New World Order Health Insurance Company, he would not be prepared to arrange an applicant with brain cancer nor would he be enthusiastic to pay an unlimited second benefit to all insureds - - - not without a premium that reflects the risks to his personal bank account.
Theoretically, insurance companies collect enough in premiums to operate profitably while paying all the claims they have agreed to pay unbefitting contracts with the individuals and groups that they cinch. If we add more risk, the insurance company has no choice but to increase premiums.
The persons who own the insurance companies ( you and me, comrade ) expect them to operate profitably. The companies employ thousands of actuaries, healthcare industry equivalent analysts, claims adjusters, fraud inspectors, service personnel, underwriters, risk assessors, etc. to provide that this happens.
Insurance companies protect us by standing ready to pay " covered " expenses over and over whatever deductions, exclusions, and limitations are agreed upon in advance. There is a operable legal contract between the parties - - - financial disasters are avoided if we get really sick.
Within the terms of their agreements, insurance companies finish who is insurable, and at what premium. Their job is to pay covered medical expenses - - - and they have a vested sympathy in keeping medical expenses as low as possible. But do they really?
Just as the financial act was partially caused by business conflicts of notice so too are there antipodal interests in the insurance - healthcare - drug - medical supply industries. These conflicts reduce the natural desire to control the costs of all healthcare services.
We can control the industry to eliminate the conflicts of activity. We can ( and should ) police the boardrooms of insurance companies to eliminate " abuse of shareholders " through excessive fee packages.
Perhaps we should require health care insurers to be " common " companies, or conceivably " network " doctors should not be allowed to bill patients for amounts leading what the insurance actually pays. Possibly the annual deductible could be dealt with differently without increasing premiums.
We can tax for - profit hospitals higher to embolden more non - profit care facilities; we can keep doctors, insurance and drug companies from owning hospitals; we can cap jury awards for medical malpractice or error, and we can give tax relief to medical practitioners who store free health services to the needy and uninsurable.
But the government ' s efforts to redefine insurance are counter - visionary. As cold as it may effective, if we make insurance companies cover pre - existing understanding tumors, the charge is coming out of your invade in the articulation of higher insurance premiums or higher taxes - - - and it ' s likely that the healthiest among us will be the ones paying the too many taxes.
The Unblemished Flat list of reforms, every one of them, would increase insurance company costs and our premiums while doing goose egg to reduce the price of the medical services we receive. They only sound good to those who do not deduce insurance.
Insurance is designed to pay the bills - - - reforms need to make the bills smaller for everyone. Does this plan cut any costs, or just increase insurance premiums for those who will still be able to pay them?
Group health ( and even dental ) insurance is a benefit used by many employers to frame and retain employees. I ' ve heard rumors that the reform plan will tax employers who don ' t give insurance and tax those employees who receive the benefits. True or not, neither approach helps the economy or reduces health care expenses - - - both stand taxes for everyone.
Insurance can only be made more affordable by reducing the costs of the healthcare that is provided. Let ' s focus on streamlined transcribe keeping, controlling ambulance chasers, jury awards, drug company advertising, an swarm of lobbyists, and industry conflicts of leisure activity.
We should also make all government employees, from the top down, dance to the twin tune as the rest of us - - - that ' ll do away with the tax on benefits. Then, next chance you get, do away with an high.
