I’ll now continue my attempt to address more of the IMMEDIATE REFORMS.
Section 103. Ending Health insurance rescission. I guess I never realized the insurer for reasons other than fraud could cancel insurance. Fraud will remain as a reason, but they suggest a practice already exists where insurance can be rescinded. I’ll take their word for it and give them a PLUS for the guaranteed renewal and must continue in force law. They will also offer third party review of cases where insurance was cancelled. You know, like most states already do.
Section 104. Sunshine on price gouging. Already done by states, but definitely not effectively, reviews of premium changes will be done to ensure premium increases are not out of line. Like the government can do it better. The government will staff its bureaucracy with redundant people and duplicate efforts. Dream on. This is fluff.
Section 105. Dependents less than 27 years old. Yes, you 20-year old couch potatoes, you're parents will come to your rescue to make sure you are insured right up to 27 years old. The government will let you fight for its country and vote at 18, but you will be allowed to continue to get your diapers changed through the ripe old age of 27. Do we need this? My kids already had their own insurance in college. More Fluff! Just skip the 4-5 repetitions of the same text and go to Section 106. Oh, there go the Employer policy insurance premiums up! Guess where the cost gets transferred -- yes, you..
Section 106. Preexisting conditions. This is a convoluted section. Suffice it to say that within many other pieces of legislation the terms stated in those legislations will change as follows: 6 months to 30 days, 12 months to 3 months, 18 months to 9 months. Now, I believe, but I could certainly be wrong, an example of how this applies to you might be the clause in your insurance policy that says no coverage of your preexisting condition will be offered for the first 12 months of your policy. Now this would be only 3 months. Get it? I believe this section applies to those INSURED people who have a rider excluding coverage for some term. But, who knows – it isn’t in English.
Section 107. Domestic Violence? I give up. The next several sections are related to minute numbers of people too. So far, VERY FEW people are going to benefit from anything.
Let me break away from the order and skip a few.
Section 109. Lifetime limits eliminated. We all understand this. But, do you also understand that this WILL increase premiums!
Section 112. Wellness program grants. This benefits employees and owners of small businesses. The Secretary will later after the bill is enacted define employers included in the small business definition. So, how do you estimate the cost when you don’t know the specifics? Here we go again. Anyway, grants of 50% of incurred Employer cost for qualified wellness programs will be given to small business owners up to an annual limit of $150 per employee and $50,000 over the grant period up to 3 years. The employer must choose three areas from a list on page 66 (c). Who do you think will pay for these? Get out your wallet. Do you think the CBO factored in cost here?
I have reached my limit of tolerance. Maybe I’ll return with more posts. There were some positive benefits in this analysis, but there were also a lot of costs not defined. The latter will prevail given the current economic conditions. Thus, again, grade=”F”
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