Health Care Reform: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

[mijan]

The Good: 
- Private health insurance can't deny you for a pre-existing condition under this bill.
- You can't be dropped from a policy because you get sick.
- If you have insurance, they can't "cap" your coverage and say "you've been sick enough now, so we're not paying any more."

The Bad:
- It's not REAL universal health care.  YES, I am "one of those" who fully wants this backwards country to switch to a single-payer system like Canada's system.  I think anything less is a travesty - humiliating and ludicrous.  Time to join the modern world, people.
- Because it's not real UHC, this will do nothing to help the over-complicated network of insurers and the grossly high overhead costs of the health care system.
- Private insurance still rules our health care system.  I'm sorry, but for-profit health "insurance" is a crime against humanity, as far as I'm concerned.
- Nothing to attenuate costs of malpractice insurance, which is putting even GOOD doctors out of business, even if they've never been sued for malpractice.

The Ugly:
- Fining people for not having health insurance.  WTF?!?  I'm sorry, but for the self-employed to have to afford policies on their own when they're BARELY making ends meet... this is going to bankrupt many individuals.  That's STUPID.


Want to chime in with your thoughts?  Go for it, but no flaming.  Civil discourse, please.  Actual facts, please.  Insight from those who live in countries with UHC are welcomed and encouraged to share their experiences.

Comments

and furthermore

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

In response to a few comments:

The problem with forcing people to be covered is there's no cap on how much the insurance companies are allowed to charge under this plan. As long as for-profit insurance companies are the only game in town (for most people, given most people aren't eligible for Medicaid), they will do whatever they can to avoid insuring people who will actually need their services: this bill prevents them from outright refusing to insure people but fails to prevent them from making policies for people with preexisting conditions outrageously expensive so nobody can afford them. Or from hiking up your premium so you can no longer afford it if you're already insured and you get sick. And then the government fines you for it. There is nothing to force insurance companies to offer affordable plans and there won't be.

What I don't like about this bill is it'll make it harder to make the changes that really need to happen. It encourages the mentality that "hey, they just made a bunch of reforms! We're fine now!" and there will be even more resistance to single-payer, which is what we need.

Re: and furthermore

[abusing-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

I believe I'm in love with you. I hope you don't mind. :)

Signed,

A self-employed person with numerous preexisting conditions who is scared shitless about how much her family will have to pay to become compliant.

Re: and furthermore

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

I just want to point out that it is not actually true that ALL health insurance companies are for-profit. It depends on the state and the charter under which the company operates, but I know of at least one that has a not-for-profit tax/legal status - there's some defined level of 'profit' they're allowed to make per year on top of their business expenses which is calculated to be just enough to help grow and develop the business to improve services, but beyond that anything else has to go back into the community in the form of free programs or, I guess, taxes or fines of some type.

Obviously, this is not the same as a universal health care system like the NHS, but I mention it because it means that people who are concerned about this sort of thing can check into the companies they have available to them, and see what terms they're under with the government, and at least pick the one that's least awful. (I'm not sure exactly who it is that determines these things in the government, but I can probably find out.)

Re: and furthermore

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

That's awesome, if more people could be insured by not-for-profit companies, we'd be a lot better off.

Re: and furthermore

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

The problem with forcing people to be covered is there's no cap on how much the insurance companies are allowed to charge under this plan.

But there sorta kinda is - there will be additional regulation of plans in the first place, and also they will be required to spend at least 85% of the premiums on actual health care/medical costs and not on administrative costs or salaries or bonuses for execs. So there will be limitations on how much plans can cost, but it will be tied to actual health care costs.