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- #21
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Make It Though the House?
- Thread starter ins.dave
- Start date
- 14,808
I'm not sure what the big to-do is all about. We need reform - badly. We can no longer count on employer-based coverage, most states don't recognize sole props as a group of 1, most states have no viable safety net and even healthy people are renting their policy until the carrier closes the block or 4 to 6 years of rate increases forces them to re-underwrite or cancel.
This is the best bill yet - better than 3200 and Baucus. It allows carriers to sell plans in and out of the exchange, allows credits for 400% of FPL and imposes a 2.5% tax as a penalty.
On top of that agents can not only sell inside the exchange but also the private option. It's not perfect and there are a few clauses I don't agree with.
Who is this bill going to destroy? Upper middle. The upper middle class will be demolished by having their premiums tripled.
I disagree that we don't have the money to pay for this. The Iraq war will cost us 900 billion and somehow we didn't have a problem stroking a check. When it comes to spending money here on health care or education all of a sudden we're broke.
But the only way this bill even remotely works regarding keeping premiums in check is changing the mandate to actually force everyone to get covered. The carrier will need a HUGE pool of healthy people to even begin to offset the premiums.
This is the best bill yet - better than 3200 and Baucus. It allows carriers to sell plans in and out of the exchange, allows credits for 400% of FPL and imposes a 2.5% tax as a penalty.
On top of that agents can not only sell inside the exchange but also the private option. It's not perfect and there are a few clauses I don't agree with.
Who is this bill going to destroy? Upper middle. The upper middle class will be demolished by having their premiums tripled.
I disagree that we don't have the money to pay for this. The Iraq war will cost us 900 billion and somehow we didn't have a problem stroking a check. When it comes to spending money here on health care or education all of a sudden we're broke.
But the only way this bill even remotely works regarding keeping premiums in check is changing the mandate to actually force everyone to get covered. The carrier will need a HUGE pool of healthy people to even begin to offset the premiums.
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- 2,908
Be careful about the Stockholm Syndrome setting in as we go forward. We can agree that reform is needed without being happy about the crap that has been proposed. Free market, limited-guaranteed issue, subsidy/credit, and national risk pool are the way to go, along with a wide range of cost containment measures that are beyond the scope of a single post. The fact that we pissed money away on Iraq or Stimulus, or Wall Street bailout does not ipso facto demonstrate that their proposal is affordable. It only points to the need for this country to get a frigging grip.
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- 14,808
Winter - none of this is ever going to go away until something like this is implemented and America sees the truth.
- 2,908
I can agree but only in part because it depends on how it is deployed. If it is implemented piecemeal then there will be increasing opportunities for people see that the government frigs up everything it touches and turn back or turn the dial down a little and go in a better direction - which is to your point. After all, it is not as though people have nothing to lose and it could not get worse than what we have now. They do, we could, and I have seen it in my own state.
However, if they implement it whole-hog which will destroy the free market and leave us with no alternative but to make the government system work if we want any type of health care at all then we may pass the point of no return. I would like to think that once the government and the people discovered that the CBO projections for Medicare and Medicaid were about a tenth of the real number that that caused everyone to re-think things. It didnt. The hole just gets wider and deeper each day. Not sayin those programs need to go away because that is a separate issue. Just saying as a financial manager I dont like to plan around bullshit numbers and lies- actually I refuse to do it. Just me though.
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- #27
- 990
Will enough of the country EVER see it.
To me, THAT'S the question.
I'm sorry to say it again but damn people are stupid.
To the point where it worries. All I have heard from clients is opposition to 3962, but when you go onto these *** blogs, etc ... The cr*p they buy into.
Caught this Humana medicare add on the tube this am. BIG SELLING POINT!!!
The "Silver sneakers" program ... huh?
They show this couple commenting on how great it is to know that if they are traveling they can go to a gym anywhere in the country ... ?
This is a selling point? This is health insurance?
Take your frigg'n yoga mat and DVD with you when to go your sister's house in CA?
Look at this article. I believe some want the govt. to tell them how to do everything?
Health Care's Prayer Provision: How Complementary and Alternative Medicine Fits Into Obama's Evidence-Based Model
Sarah Kliff
Should health-care reform require insurers to cover chiropractors? Acupuncturists? Yoga? Spiritual healers? These are the questions raised by a recently noticed health-care amendment requiring insurers to consider covering "religious and spiritual health care."
The amendment, covered in this Los Angeles Times article, comes with backing from Senate heavyweights like Orrin Hatch, John Kerry, and the late Ted Kennedy. And while it does not mention Christian Science by name, it's been widely interpreted as a protection of the church's prayer treatments, which it encourages as an alternative to medical help. Others have understood the provision as even more far-reaching as to include any health provider acting within the scope of their license.The Freedom From Religion Foundation has criticized the amendment as an unconstitutional violation of church and state.
Even with its powerful supporters, the amendment seems unlikely to make the final bill; Pelosi already dropped it from the House version. But just the suggestion of covering religious health care highlights a difficult question for reformers: how, exactly, does prayer fit into the president's support for evidence-based medicine? Or, more broadly, is there a place for any sort of unproven, alternative medicine, religious or otherwise, in health-care reform?
- 3,863
A few random thoughts.
-Commissions
Carriers pay commissions because it is cheaper than if they direct marketed. The actual commission rate is market based on competition. If your commissions go down this will be more due to lack of competition than government law.
-Brokers
This bill specifically permits brokers to sell regulated by the states with no mention of commission or regulation. Actually it specifically states eliminating brokers is not permitted.
-Market
Market wil expand greatly with the mandate. So would you make more in volume? Maybe. Depends how bad you want it. Plenty of people make millions off of auto, home, flood. All items that are highly regulated and lower commissions.
The agents setup for volume will do well. The agents that work a whole 3 hours a day on a good day and live off of renewals will need to get a job or sell something else.
There is good and bad. Does anyone like underwriting? It's largely a joke. I wouldn't pass and I would run circles around 90% of this board. I bet most of this board wouldn't pass without rate up waiver or decline.
So with that in mind you are now positioned to be commissioned at some level on real sick people that you basically hang up on now. The market will grow and you could see a mini gold rush too.
Do I agree with reform? You bet. Do I agree with this bill specifics. No. Mainly from a cost side and size.
Change you can believe in.
-Commissions
Carriers pay commissions because it is cheaper than if they direct marketed. The actual commission rate is market based on competition. If your commissions go down this will be more due to lack of competition than government law.
-Brokers
This bill specifically permits brokers to sell regulated by the states with no mention of commission or regulation. Actually it specifically states eliminating brokers is not permitted.
-Market
Market wil expand greatly with the mandate. So would you make more in volume? Maybe. Depends how bad you want it. Plenty of people make millions off of auto, home, flood. All items that are highly regulated and lower commissions.
The agents setup for volume will do well. The agents that work a whole 3 hours a day on a good day and live off of renewals will need to get a job or sell something else.
There is good and bad. Does anyone like underwriting? It's largely a joke. I wouldn't pass and I would run circles around 90% of this board. I bet most of this board wouldn't pass without rate up waiver or decline.
So with that in mind you are now positioned to be commissioned at some level on real sick people that you basically hang up on now. The market will grow and you could see a mini gold rush too.
Do I agree with reform? You bet. Do I agree with this bill specifics. No. Mainly from a cost side and size.
Change you can believe in.
- 14,808
I'm self-employed but Maryland doesn't recognize me as a business so I can't get a group plan. Right now my wife would not pass through underwriting again (and she's healthy on no meds, perfect weight) so I guess we'll sit a bake as our premiums increase around 15% on average. Oh....unless our carrier closes the block.
This system is broke - badly. Underwriting is indeed a joke when they have my wife on the phone for 45 minutes over a condition she doesn't have.
Without reform, mark my words, within 5 years we'll all be writing 10K HSAs or 5K PPO's with $5K OOP's without office copays. That's where this is all heading. Think your business will increase then? What's 20% of 2 deals a week.
My career has already been hurt. Sure, I make 20%+ commission but how many deals have I lost both in underwriting and apps I never submitted because they didn't qualify? I can't do that kind of math without using the NASA computer.
I'll take 10% any given day of the week is underwriting is sidelined. I'm even in the game at 5% but I'd heavily cross-sell.
This system is broke - badly. Underwriting is indeed a joke when they have my wife on the phone for 45 minutes over a condition she doesn't have.
Without reform, mark my words, within 5 years we'll all be writing 10K HSAs or 5K PPO's with $5K OOP's without office copays. That's where this is all heading. Think your business will increase then? What's 20% of 2 deals a week.
My career has already been hurt. Sure, I make 20%+ commission but how many deals have I lost both in underwriting and apps I never submitted because they didn't qualify? I can't do that kind of math without using the NASA computer.
I'll take 10% any given day of the week is underwriting is sidelined. I'm even in the game at 5% but I'd heavily cross-sell.
- 3,863
You should cross sell at 5% or 20% why leave money on the table.
I am already selling 5k non co pay plans. 10k and even 25k are now available with some carriers. It's nuts. I wouldn't buy a 25k plan no way. I complain about my 5000 ded we all share on the hsa.
The biggest question on the bill is if penalties and increased participation can offset GI with no waiting periods. I say not long term , but no one truly knows yet.
This will get re worked and debated another 60 years.
Wake me up if the commissions are at or near zero until then game on people.
I am already selling 5k non co pay plans. 10k and even 25k are now available with some carriers. It's nuts. I wouldn't buy a 25k plan no way. I complain about my 5000 ded we all share on the hsa.
The biggest question on the bill is if penalties and increased participation can offset GI with no waiting periods. I say not long term , but no one truly knows yet.
This will get re worked and debated another 60 years.
Wake me up if the commissions are at or near zero until then game on people.
