Health Care Reform! The future is now!
My thoughts on the newly released House Health Care Reform Bill Summary here.
From the summary, things I like:
-Public Insurance Option
-Yearly cap on individual out of pocket spending to prevent bankruptcies
-Insurers can't deny coverage on pre-existing conditions
-Small Business assistance for businesses that want to offer health benefits
I was more curious about the out-of-pocket cap (like, what is it?) and mental health coverage, so I dived into the full text bill.
Sec 114 (b) - PARITY IN MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE
20 ABUSE DISORDER BENEFITS
The text refers to previous bills, and I didn't get a sense that mental health and substance abuse programs were getting more than lip service.
Sec 124 (b) does list mental health and "substance use disorder services" as part of the minimum allowable coverage. Of course, it remains to be seen if insurers can still fob you off on counselors when you need a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists oftentimes do not take insurance, or aren't covered by basic insurance. And I am coming to believe that they may be better than primary care physicians at determining drug/dosage issues but that might just be my own wishful thinking.
Out of Pocket cost cap:
Frankly, my eyes were beginning to cross reading the bill, so I searched "out of pocket" and really only found detail under the Improvements for Medicare section, with a complicated formula for slowly reducing the cap over time as the program is developed over the next few years. Maybe some of my lawyer friends will have more luck unwinding that piece of the bill.
Anyway, these are my initial thoughts. This is a pretty hot topic right now, so I expect more analysis and breakdown over the next few days.
From the summary, things I like:
-Public Insurance Option
-Yearly cap on individual out of pocket spending to prevent bankruptcies
-Insurers can't deny coverage on pre-existing conditions
-Small Business assistance for businesses that want to offer health benefits
I was more curious about the out-of-pocket cap (like, what is it?) and mental health coverage, so I dived into the full text bill.
Sec 114 (b) - PARITY IN MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE
20 ABUSE DISORDER BENEFITS
The text refers to previous bills, and I didn't get a sense that mental health and substance abuse programs were getting more than lip service.
Sec 124 (b) does list mental health and "substance use disorder services" as part of the minimum allowable coverage. Of course, it remains to be seen if insurers can still fob you off on counselors when you need a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists oftentimes do not take insurance, or aren't covered by basic insurance. And I am coming to believe that they may be better than primary care physicians at determining drug/dosage issues but that might just be my own wishful thinking.
Out of Pocket cost cap:
Frankly, my eyes were beginning to cross reading the bill, so I searched "out of pocket" and really only found detail under the Improvements for Medicare section, with a complicated formula for slowly reducing the cap over time as the program is developed over the next few years. Maybe some of my lawyer friends will have more luck unwinding that piece of the bill.
Anyway, these are my initial thoughts. This is a pretty hot topic right now, so I expect more analysis and breakdown over the next few days.