The healthcare monster is officially open for debate on the Senate floor. With barely enough votes to even get to the debate part of the process (the motion to debate passed 60-39, with 60 being the minimum amount of votes to pass), the Democrats are in for what could turn into unrestrained debate next month. Did I mention that not a single Republican voted to begin debate and more than likely will not vote for any healthcare reform bill?
The latest argument over the bill: the cost. The U.S. currently has the largest debt we’ve ever had. If we don’t raise the current legal debt ceiling, we will actually default on some of our debt. The healthcare bill as it stands now will cost approximately $979 billion over 10 years. It will also reduce the deficit over the same 10 years, i.e. the bill will NOT add to our current debt. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091122/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul) Supposedly the bill will save 3.5 million jobs and $800 billion over the next 20 years. Republicans however, don’t buy it and are saying things like, “I don't want to fix the problems in our health care system in a way that creates more of an economic crisis.” (Joe Lieberman, I-CT). Kit Bond (R-MI) even called the whole bill a, “scam”. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091122/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_democrats)
To find out who exactly is full of it, I went straight to the source: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the entity in charge of estimating the fiscal impact of bills introduced by congress. Per a CBO report published on November 20th, the federal budget deficit will have a net reduction of approximately $138 billion. ($979 billion cost over 10 years less the $800 billion in savings over 10 years… not exactly $138 billion in net savings, but close enough for our purposes here.) If you’d like to read the whole report, click on the link: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10741/hr3962Revised.pdf.
For those of us who are skeptical of the CBO (or any governmental entity), here are the facts:
1. The director is jointly appointed for a four year term by the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
2. Director and Deputy Director compensation is set by law
3. Approximately 70% of the professional staff hold advanced degrees in either economics or public policy.
For more info in the CBO: http://www.cbo.gov/
Former Director Robert Reischauer, who served from 1989-1995, recently noted, “CBO is there to score savings for which we have a high degree of confidence that they will materialize… There are many promising approaches [in these reform ideas] but you...can't deposit them in the bank.” Hmm, I think I might be sold on this whole billions of dollars in net savings thing…
For an extremely in-depth well-written article on the specifics of the healthcare bill, check this out: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/a_milestone_in_the_health_care_journey.php
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Healthcare Gets Personal
This week, for me, healthcare got personal. Really, really personal.
As I am currently self-employed (or unemployed as the naysayers choose to call me), I am now in charge of obtaining my own individual health insurance. Let me walk you through the circus that was applying for health insurance:
June 26th: My last day at Deloitte. Thanks again to everyone who came to my party; that was a good time!
June 30th: My employer sponsored healthcare expires. I’m busy writing my book (John’s Symphony, coming soon) so I ignore it for now.
July 16th: Oh crap, I need to get on that whole healthcare thing. I spend four hours filling out an application for PacifiCare, the individual health insurance company under the United Health Group umbrella. I had been very happy with my United Healthcare insurance that I had through Deloitte, so I think this is a safe bet.
July 21st: I get a phone call from the mysterious underwriters of the insurance I am applying for. They have some questions about my application. We go through their questions, which are the exact same questions that I answered on the application (so underwriters can’t read?). At the end of the conversation, I ask when I can expect to hear back from them. They say they have to request my medical records from my doctor.
July 27th: I’ve heard nothing and have been uninsured for almost a month. I call the number on the PacifiCare website, and am shuffled around to no less than five different customer service representatives until finally, someone tells me that they’re still waiting on my medical records. I call my doctor to see what the holdup is. Turns out it takes them about two weeks to process those requests. Yikes.
August 10th: It’s been more than two weeks and I’m wondering what the heck is going on. My eligibility to apply for Cobra expires on the 29th, which is coming up soon. I check my mailbox and have a letter waiting for me from PacifiCare letting me know that I have been denied insurance for the following reasons:
Asthma, Elevated Cholesterol.
Imagine my surprise at being denied health insurance for two medical issues that I’m not even being treated for currently because my doctor doesn’t think they’re a problem. As I told the underwriters, I’ve never had an asthma attack and never been hospitalized. Ever. In fact, I ran a half-marathon not six months ago. Yet for some reason, even though I share similar conditions with 20 million Americans who are asthmatic and with 47.7% of American women who have total cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL, I am somehow a high enough insurance risk that they won’t even cover me?! Do they cover anyone!?
See http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=8&sub=42 for asthma statistics and http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4506 for cholesterol statistics.
Do they have the right to deny me? As a private sector company, absolutely. Ironically though, if I end up on Cobra the same umbrella company is still insuring me. Either way I am, apparently, still a risk to them. So what is going on here?!
I have a theory, and by all means, please let me know what you think.
Under the PacifiCare individual plan, my premiums would be $86 (not adjusted for premium increases for preexisting conditions). Under Cobra, my premiums would be $353 (which, as a person with $0 in income, I totally cannot afford). Either way those dollars eventually end up at the same company, United Healthcare. Which plan do you think they would prefer me to be on?
Still think our healthcare system isn't broken?
As I am currently self-employed (or unemployed as the naysayers choose to call me), I am now in charge of obtaining my own individual health insurance. Let me walk you through the circus that was applying for health insurance:
June 26th: My last day at Deloitte. Thanks again to everyone who came to my party; that was a good time!
June 30th: My employer sponsored healthcare expires. I’m busy writing my book (John’s Symphony, coming soon) so I ignore it for now.
July 16th: Oh crap, I need to get on that whole healthcare thing. I spend four hours filling out an application for PacifiCare, the individual health insurance company under the United Health Group umbrella. I had been very happy with my United Healthcare insurance that I had through Deloitte, so I think this is a safe bet.
July 21st: I get a phone call from the mysterious underwriters of the insurance I am applying for. They have some questions about my application. We go through their questions, which are the exact same questions that I answered on the application (so underwriters can’t read?). At the end of the conversation, I ask when I can expect to hear back from them. They say they have to request my medical records from my doctor.
July 27th: I’ve heard nothing and have been uninsured for almost a month. I call the number on the PacifiCare website, and am shuffled around to no less than five different customer service representatives until finally, someone tells me that they’re still waiting on my medical records. I call my doctor to see what the holdup is. Turns out it takes them about two weeks to process those requests. Yikes.
August 10th: It’s been more than two weeks and I’m wondering what the heck is going on. My eligibility to apply for Cobra expires on the 29th, which is coming up soon. I check my mailbox and have a letter waiting for me from PacifiCare letting me know that I have been denied insurance for the following reasons:
Asthma, Elevated Cholesterol.
Imagine my surprise at being denied health insurance for two medical issues that I’m not even being treated for currently because my doctor doesn’t think they’re a problem. As I told the underwriters, I’ve never had an asthma attack and never been hospitalized. Ever. In fact, I ran a half-marathon not six months ago. Yet for some reason, even though I share similar conditions with 20 million Americans who are asthmatic and with 47.7% of American women who have total cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL, I am somehow a high enough insurance risk that they won’t even cover me?! Do they cover anyone!?
See http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=8&sub=42 for asthma statistics and http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4506 for cholesterol statistics.
Do they have the right to deny me? As a private sector company, absolutely. Ironically though, if I end up on Cobra the same umbrella company is still insuring me. Either way I am, apparently, still a risk to them. So what is going on here?!
I have a theory, and by all means, please let me know what you think.
Under the PacifiCare individual plan, my premiums would be $86 (not adjusted for premium increases for preexisting conditions). Under Cobra, my premiums would be $353 (which, as a person with $0 in income, I totally cannot afford). Either way those dollars eventually end up at the same company, United Healthcare. Which plan do you think they would prefer me to be on?
Still think our healthcare system isn't broken?
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