Choice?
From McClatchy’s new Health section¹ Health legislation might bar some from public insurance
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and leading Democrats have stressed that people who like their employer-sponsored insurance would be able to keep it under a health care overhaul. They haven’t emphasized the flip side, however: that people who don’t like their coverage might have to keep it.
Under the main Democratic health bills that are being debated in Congress, many people with job-based insurance could find it difficult to impossible to switch to health plans on a new insurance exchange, even if those plans were cheaper or offered better coverage. The restrictions would extend to any government-run plan.
This is more of the protection scheme for the insurance mafia, to ensure they don’t have to compete, as that would lower their obscene profits.
From NPR Maryland County Health Program Highlights Challenges [There’s an audio link to hear the story.]
Howard County, Md., Health Commissioner Dr. Peter Beilenson says more people have enrolled in Healthy Howard, the county’s program for the uninsured. But, he says, as many as 10 percent of those enrolled are in danger of being dropped because they cannot afford the program.
The program is for the middle class who make too much money for Medicaid, but can’t afford private insurance. About 10% of those who signed up are having problems coming up with the $50 to $85 per person per month for this program. The rates in the House bill are even higher.
1. A collaboration with Kaiser Health News funded by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It is not associated with Kaiser Permanente.
