Public Health Care Option

[InsureGuy5]

That would be one part of the solution and a good one at that. Medicare supplement business would be through the roof. But you still have to provide insurance for the uninsurables with a mandate that all enroll in one plan or another. It's the only way to spread out the costs.

 

[somarco]

Tax credits are meaningless to those who don't pay taxes which is close to half the population.

Therein lies much of your problem.

The ones voting these idiots in are the tax receivers, not the tax payers.

how big a medicare-for-all supplement do I have to buy to get me up to the same plan the feds have?

Hopefully one with a very big commission.

But you still have to provide insurance for the uninsurables with a mandate that all enroll in one plan or another. It's the only way to spread out the costs.

You are thinking like a carrier. The govt doesn't have to do that. Medicare doesn't think that way. Medicaid doesn't think that way.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

A national mandate, although necessary, would never work. The only realistic and enforceable penalty would be a tax penalty and we'd turn half the nation into tax cheats. Go research how that mandate's working out for Mass.

The other issue is rate increase control. You might be able to mandate that for my current income I have to purchase a plan costing $450. But what happens 5 years from now when my income's static and that plan's now $700?

 

[ABC]

Tax credits are meaningless to those who don't pay taxes which is close to half the population.Therein lies much of your problem.
The ones voting these idiots in are the tax receivers, not the tax payers.

I was referring to the 15 million uninsured that can't afford a $600 a month premium through the risk pools. This is the segment that I think needs help.

Everyone of us talks to this prospect a couple of times a month. They are contracted employee, work for small business with no health plan, or have a small business. They are diagnosed with some health condition that leads to a decline.

There budget is $300 a month and the state plan is $600.

If we could get these people a tax credit and a GI this could add sales for all of us and helps us help them.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Tax credits are meaningless to those who don't pay taxes which is close to half the population.

I'm no tax accountant (and I don't play one on TV either), but I believe tax credits can get you a refund even if you paid no tax.

The "Earned Income Credit" for parents of small children comes to mind...

 

[somarco]

EIC is a refundable tax credit. Some tax credits are refundable, meaning you will get a check even if you paid no taxes. It also means you can get a refund in xs of the amount of taxes you paid.

Most tax credits are not refundable.

A national mandate, although necessary, would never work. The only realistic and enforceable penalty would be a tax penalty and we'd turn half the nation into tax cheats. Go research how that mandate's working out for Mass.

Mandates only encourage slackers who will find ways, legitimate or not, to avoid the mandate. I haven't checked figures in MA in a while, but early on a significant percentage, maybe 25% or so, covered under the Mass health care plan had insurance before. The Mass plan was so much less they dropped what they had in favor of the taxpayer funded plan.

Even though the continue sending Teddy, Kerrey and Barney Frank to Washington they are not stupid.

Incentives work better than penalties. This is true no matter what you are attempting.

Rewards always produce better behavior than punishment.

 

[Paradigm]

Crap, in another blow to freedom in this nation; the *** Stuart Smalley is about to be certified as Minnesota's new senator as Norm Coleman is conceding. This will make the Senate fillabuster proof which will increase the likelihood of socialized medicine and the public plan option. This is a dark day for liberty and freedom.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/01/ama-president-group-open-to-government-funded-insurance/

AMA shifts, will now back an public health care option.

Committee Dems Release Cheaper, Better Public Health Care Bill

Kennedy bill redesigned.

Unless someone has an example, I cannot think of any insurance product where the gov't...which can literally print money and take a loss, competes with public companies which must show a profit. Mass. does not have a state plan to compete with the carriers.

 

[AgentOrange]

PHO may be off the table ...


WASHINGTON -- It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday.
"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," he said in an interview. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.
His comments came as the Senate Finance Committee pushed for a bipartisan deal. To help pay for the package, the committee planned to announce an agreement Wednesday with hospitals and the White House for $155 billion over a decade in reductions to Medicare and charity-care payments for hospitals, according to a person familiar with the agreement. That will help pay for the legislation, expected to cost at least $1 trillion over 10 years.
One of the most contentious issues is whether to create a public health-insurance plan to compete with private companies.
Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama's goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect.
Mr. Obama has pushed hard for a vigorous public option. But he has also said he won't draw a "line in the sand" over this point.
The deal with the hospitals follows a similar agreement with brand-name drug companies. And insurance companies were talking to Senate negotiators about cuts worth at least $100 billion over 10 years, according to two officials with knowledge of the negotiations.
Congressional negotiators and the White House hope to lock in support from the industry groups, which are backing a health bill in general terms but have opposed past efforts.
Hospitals and insurers hope to gain some degree of control over cuts to their federal payments. In principle, a health-care overhaul could benefit both groups by raising the number of Americans who buy and have health insurance.
"They've made an assessment reform is going to happen, so it's better to be part of that than not," Mr. Emanuel said.
However, insurers, and most Republicans, strongly oppose creation of a government-run insurance option, saying it would ultimately drive them out of business. Most Democrats support a public option.
The president and his aides already have signaled a willingness to consider an alternative to a public plan under which a network of nonprofit cooperatives would compete with for-profit insurance companies. That is the leading idea in the Senate Finance Committee.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, meanwhile, has put forward its own version of a government-run plan, closer to what most liberals and the White House favor.
On Monday, Mr. Emanuel said the trigger mechanism would also accomplish the White House's goals. Under this scenario, a public plan would kick in under certain circumstances when competition was judged to be lacking. Exactly what circumstances would trigger the option would have to be worked out.
Some Democrats pushing for a vigorous public plan say the trigger idea isn't good enough. Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in an interview, "If it's not there on day one, those of us who support a public option have a real problem with it."

 

[JMO Fan]

Public plan premium projected 25% below private plans. That might be true after they force private plans to guaranteed issue. Adding the uninsurables will be very expensive, even if coverage is mandated.

Without a mandate, public and private plans will all go broke. Change we can expect to pay for.