about health care- a little rant
So, that health care bill is going to be voted on by the house on Sunday, according to the radio.
I am recording here, I hope it fails, and why.
The bill does a few things.
1: People will be fined if they don't have health insurance, this fine will be around $1000 from what I understand. (and if it's high enough that it will actually encourage purchase of health insurance, how will the people who couldn't afford insurance be able to pay the fine?)
2: health insurance will be subsidized by the government for some people (guess where that money comes from, why don't'cha)
3: insurance companies will not be allowed to refuse insurance to people pre-existing conditions
4: insurance companies will not be allowed to charge higher premiums(or, at least, not as high as the high risk would warrant) to people who are at a higher risk for illness.
5: more things will be required to be covered by insurance
why is this bad?
well, a quick search shows a USA today article about a study by Kaiser Family Foundation (summary here)
This study indicates the average cost of an individual insurance premium for employer offered health insurance to be around $4800, with the employer contributing an average of $4000 of that and the employee contributing about $800.
This is average insurance premiums sold to companies in group deals, individuals who buy insurance independent of their employer (or who have non) must pay the full cost of the premium, and will likely have a higher average premium without an employer to negotiate a bulk rate.
What does this mean?
It means your average person who can't afford insurance to begin with will probably find it cheaper to pay the fine (or fail to pay it entirely), and can just buy insurance when they get sick. This will cost the insurance a lot of money, and they won't be able to make it back by raising the premiums only on the people with preexisting conditions who pull that maneuver, so they will have to raise everyone's rates or go out of business.
some people whose insurance is subsidized by the government might be able to find plans that are more cost effective than going without, but that money to subsidize has to come from somewhere. Supposedly it will come from the fines charged to those who don't get insurance.
In any case, with all this stuff to track, fines and subsidies and so on, a new bureaucracy will have to be formed to administer it, and more money will be siphoned from the fines and taxes, and added to the national debt to run it. Someone will have to pay for it, and this will have to turn in to higher taxes at some point.
In the end, it means the majority of us who have insurance already will end up paying higher taxes and higher insurance premiums, the minority who don't have it, and maybe can't afford it, will be forced to buy insurance or fined, and a percentage of those will game the system at the expense of everyone else.
In other words, the health care pan will cost everyone more money in the long run, and health care, if anything, will become less affordable.
What is this? It took a little time to research insurance prices, a little knowledge about how insurance works, and I was able to figure out the above.
Why are so many democrats supporting this?
The majority of politicians have roots in law, and should have a basic understanding of insurance by contact with it.
Any competent representative should have done their homework for this bill, and determined that the above scenario is likely to be the result of it. I can understand not paying attention to some of the less important bills that fall along the way, but this bill is so huge and so important and will have such far reaching effects, there is no excuse for them not to get informed about it!
I can only conclude that the politicians voting for this are doing so for their own ulterior motives. If it's bribes or because they think it will get the reelected or because they want to destroy the health insurance industry to make way fully government run health care.
Given the above, any representative that votes yes on this bill, or allows it to pass by NOT voting no, must be one of two things: too incompetent to serve the role of a representative of their constituency, or too corrupt to serve the role of a representative of their constituency.
As such, any politician voting yes on this atrocity, or any politician who allows it to pass without a vote as some democrats are trying to do, should be removed from office and replaced with someone who is not too incompetent or too corrupt to perform their duties.
I am recording here, I hope it fails, and why.
The bill does a few things.
1: People will be fined if they don't have health insurance, this fine will be around $1000 from what I understand. (and if it's high enough that it will actually encourage purchase of health insurance, how will the people who couldn't afford insurance be able to pay the fine?)
2: health insurance will be subsidized by the government for some people (guess where that money comes from, why don't'cha)
3: insurance companies will not be allowed to refuse insurance to people pre-existing conditions
4: insurance companies will not be allowed to charge higher premiums(or, at least, not as high as the high risk would warrant) to people who are at a higher risk for illness.
5: more things will be required to be covered by insurance
why is this bad?
well, a quick search shows a USA today article about a study by Kaiser Family Foundation (summary here)
This study indicates the average cost of an individual insurance premium for employer offered health insurance to be around $4800, with the employer contributing an average of $4000 of that and the employee contributing about $800.
This is average insurance premiums sold to companies in group deals, individuals who buy insurance independent of their employer (or who have non) must pay the full cost of the premium, and will likely have a higher average premium without an employer to negotiate a bulk rate.
What does this mean?
It means your average person who can't afford insurance to begin with will probably find it cheaper to pay the fine (or fail to pay it entirely), and can just buy insurance when they get sick. This will cost the insurance a lot of money, and they won't be able to make it back by raising the premiums only on the people with preexisting conditions who pull that maneuver, so they will have to raise everyone's rates or go out of business.
some people whose insurance is subsidized by the government might be able to find plans that are more cost effective than going without, but that money to subsidize has to come from somewhere. Supposedly it will come from the fines charged to those who don't get insurance.
In any case, with all this stuff to track, fines and subsidies and so on, a new bureaucracy will have to be formed to administer it, and more money will be siphoned from the fines and taxes, and added to the national debt to run it. Someone will have to pay for it, and this will have to turn in to higher taxes at some point.
In the end, it means the majority of us who have insurance already will end up paying higher taxes and higher insurance premiums, the minority who don't have it, and maybe can't afford it, will be forced to buy insurance or fined, and a percentage of those will game the system at the expense of everyone else.
In other words, the health care pan will cost everyone more money in the long run, and health care, if anything, will become less affordable.
What is this? It took a little time to research insurance prices, a little knowledge about how insurance works, and I was able to figure out the above.
Why are so many democrats supporting this?
The majority of politicians have roots in law, and should have a basic understanding of insurance by contact with it.
Any competent representative should have done their homework for this bill, and determined that the above scenario is likely to be the result of it. I can understand not paying attention to some of the less important bills that fall along the way, but this bill is so huge and so important and will have such far reaching effects, there is no excuse for them not to get informed about it!
I can only conclude that the politicians voting for this are doing so for their own ulterior motives. If it's bribes or because they think it will get the reelected or because they want to destroy the health insurance industry to make way fully government run health care.
Given the above, any representative that votes yes on this bill, or allows it to pass by NOT voting no, must be one of two things: too incompetent to serve the role of a representative of their constituency, or too corrupt to serve the role of a representative of their constituency.
As such, any politician voting yes on this atrocity, or any politician who allows it to pass without a vote as some democrats are trying to do, should be removed from office and replaced with someone who is not too incompetent or too corrupt to perform their duties.