I was ready to move on from the health care debate because quite frankly, nothing I say is going to change anything. Obama has promised that it's going to pass no matter what. It's too important to his pocket bookfor the health of the nation to not pass it just because people don't want it. He has also managed to hook a lot of people with the "you can't be denied" and the whole pre-existing conditions things. Big sellers and I'm sure that we're going to hear a lot more about these. I know that people are parroting them to me and this brings me to the point that needs to pointed out.
Having a health insurance plan doesn't mean that your medical bills are going to be paid.
I know. I have insurance. In fact, I'm in that magic land of being double covered (even though I tried to cancel one of my plans but I was denied - if you know why I was denied the ability to *not* have insurance, you probably don't need to read the rest of this post).
Having insurance, I can tell you that not everything is covered. In fact, each year, less and less is covered while premiums go up. Insurance companies are expanding their denial of claims departments because it's cheaper to pay people to say "no" than it is to cover medical expenses for people.
This is the point that I want people to understand going into this.
Now, you may argue that *some* coverage is better than no coverage.
The only thing I can say to that is: at what cost?
Using a gun to force people that can afford it to pay for health insurance is going to drive the price of insurance up.
One of the market controls on price is that fact that you can opt out. If a H3 costs more money than I'm willing to pay, I don't buy one. If GM fails to make their sales quota, they'll drop the price. If everyone in the country had to buy an H3 (whether they wanted or needed one) and the government was going to take the money from people by force and pay the sticker price for anyone that couldn't afford an H3, the price would not go down, it would go up. No one can opt out. GM doesn't have to find the balance point between supply and demand.
In the last article I read on the health care bill, Congress was going to put a cap on how much insurance companies could raise their premiums. Something like 1.5% a year.
You have to do this, right? When you make it compulsory to have an insurance program, the price can be set as high as the insurance companies want and you can't say no. To combat the fact that market forces have been taken out of the pricing structure and have been replaced by Congressional whim (swayed by billions of dollars in lobbying money), you have to set some kind of artificial price.
Still, the insurance companies are private, for-profit, companies. Since they can't deny anyone based on health, they have to control costs in some other fashion. One of those tactics will be an increase in the denial of payment. These companies can operate at a loss for only so long. The only company that can afford to take a loss forever (or at least until the Empire crumbles) is the one that can print its own money. Insurance companies can't print their own money so this leaves a few choices if their profits go down.
The first is what I've already covered. They reduce what they will accept as valid claims. The deny payment. They reduce the amount of money going out.
Should the people raise enough outrage (or should it be an election year), Congress might step in and pass legislation on what the insurance companies have to cover. If they do this, insurance companies will have Congress include a raise in premiums well about 1.5% to cover the new rules in what they have to pay out.
If Congress doesn't approve the increase in premiums, insurance companies will just close up shop and create some new type of business outside the bounds of the health care bill. Congress wouldn't let that happen, especially during an election year, so the premiums would be increased.
This brings us back to the question that I have been asking for several years now, every time Congress passes some massive spending bill or increases troops in some poor illegally occupied country.
Where does the money come from?
The country is bankrupt. The government doesn't have enough money to fund its current outrageous expenses. Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the maintenance of a world Empire are beyond Congresses ability to pay. The government is borrowing and printing money at an unsustainable rate.
That un-sustainability is probably what is triggering this frenzied string of bail outs and stimulus plans. The American Empire is showing signs of collapse and those at the top are trying to get everything they can before it all comes crashing down. This topic may have to get its own post in the future.
So, for those 50 million people with no coverage, whatever bill gets shoved down our throats in the end may be better than nothing, at least initially. I accept that if you're fighting for scraps from the government, more power to you. Call your Rep and beg them to get you "coverage".
For everyone else that wants to discuss Obamacare with me, don't confuse having an insurance policy with having coverage. Don't think that just because you have a plan that your medical bills are going to be paid by the insurance fairy. Go into this with your eyes open.
10 Sword Points for the first person that comments on why my company (which is self insured) won't let me drop my insurance plan with them.
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