Who Do You Think Should Be Our Next President?

[Dave020]

Dave - it doesn't even matter if you have creditable coverage. There's a buy down where if you pay an increased premium there's no waiting period: http://www.marylandhealthinsuranceplan.state.md.us/mhip/attachments/BRC6599-pag11.pdf

I see. So MHIP protects itself against severe adverse selection by either requiring a six-month pre-ex waiting period or the option to up the premium by 50% or so to cover that risk without the six-month pre-ex waiting period.

CA MRMIP has 3-month waiting period.

I agree and support (and sell) risk programs both state and PCIP. I have an entire page of my site dedicated to those programs.

That being said, PCIP falls way too short by not limiting severe adverse selection with either a waiting period or "buy down" option. MHIP, MRMIP and other risk programs limit abuse by imposing certain requirements. PCIP imposes NONE of these and actually rewards people for not having coverage. That's why CA PCIP went broke at 27% of initial enrollment population.

It's one thing to provide health insurance coverage to people with health conditions, but quite another to allow them to put in one month's premium and get seriously expensive medical care with no hope to recoup any of those costs.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

...but you can do just that with MHIP. Pay the additional premium for just one month, get that expensive surgery and cancel. Seems to work just fine here. Likely has to do with the way it's managed.

 

[Dave020]

...but you can do just that with MHIP. Pay the additional premium for just one month, get that expensive surgery and cancel. Seems to work just fine here. Likely has to do with the way it's managed.

True, but they do charge the higher premium to attempt to offset the risk. PCIP does not have a buy down provision and is heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars to have a very low premium. Less brakes on PCIP.

Neither MRMIP nor MHIP are broke nor asking for more handouts from Obama. CA PCIP went broke at a mere 27% of the estimated coverage population. That is a fail to me.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I simply like the MD system. It works. Underwritten? Choose a carrier? Have group benefits? Whoopie doo for you. Can't get insured? Grab MHIP. Seems almost too simple. It also works.

 

[Dave020]

You are really going to compare a system with 100% participation of all eligible beneficiaries (Medicare) against a system that at best boasts less than 30% participation?

I have never heard of a situation where seniors 65+ buy a Medicare Supplement or MAPD plan just to get a surgery then drop it. I welcome any specific examples of seniors employing this strategy.

 

[Dave020]

Simply, I believe a public-private partnership solution would work best.

 

[AllenChicago]

I'm putting this in this section, because with ObamaCare, this really matters to a lot of us insurance agents.

Who do you think should become our next President?

I voted for Ron Paul, just because of his genuineness and desire to help America before other countries. I won't vote for him in a General Election though because doing so would take away a vote that Mitt Romney will need on election day to oust the author of Obamacare and his Sebilius minion. If the economy keeps improving, getting Obama out will be tough.
-ac

 

[bill3173]

I expect the next Pres election to have a low voter turn out. Nobody is excited on either side.

The Country will continue to move left anyway, there really doesn't seem to be any stopping it. The libs have infected every public and private institution of any size in the US.

You even have Southern Preachers sprinkling their congregations with liberalism.

 

[sdmillar]

I agree. I was looking at the larger picture of gaming the system, which what I thought we were discussing (at least tangentially) here.

Sorry for misleading.

My point is that until we have a universal care system we're going to have the mess we have now. None of you like the Canadian system or the UK system or the German, Swiss, or Japanese systems, but all are easier to deal with than ours is. (When I was in Germany this past August my wife got seriously ill with pneumonia and I got a look at "German engineering" up close and personal. The system works. Dave020 has spent years there so I'm sure he can attest to the fact that national healthcare (not sure if Germany is single-payor) is not intrinsically "terrible.")

Bottom line, no matter who becomes president we will get either expanded (say age 40+ on Medicare) or total national health care where everyone has the same insurance, or perhaps a two-tier system like the British.

One thing I'm certain of is that Obamacare will not be implemented because someone will see that the system would fall under its own weight and that it is not going to be much better or different than the mess we have now.

I would venture a guess that even if Obama is re-elected that he would happily junk his system for single-payor which is what I believe he wanted all along but knew he could only get incrementally.

If I were Romney I'd be pitching an alternative to Obamacare as opposed to just junking it.

Al

I know this will come as a surprise, but I agree with Al on this one. Our society has become conditioned to look to government for support AND we do not have the stomach to tell people that they can not get care even if they are irresponsible. Many have figured out that they do not have to buy insurance because if something catastophic and life threatening were to happen to them, they will be taken care of anyway and then just never pay the bill.

I will say that if were to take a 15 or 20% income tax increase to make it happen, forget it. We are already WAY over taxed (at least those that pay taxes).

Whether we like it or not, we are going to a single payor system where everyone is covered with the option for those that want better than basic care to purchase a private supplemental policy. Rationing care in the final months of our lives is also something we are going to have to acknowledge as necessary but if you want better, there will be supplemental policies that can be added.

In this idea of healthcare in America, doctors and hospitals would NOT be required to perform any procedures on anyone that this single payor guaranteed plan would not cover. Doctors and hospitals should be paid for every necessary procedure they perform on patients and today we are very far from that, which drives the costs up for those that do pay.

BASIC guaranteed care from birth to death with private supplemental care policies on top of that is where we have to go. When will we be forced to swallow that pill? My guess is in the next 4 to 8 years.

 

[Mark]

Studying the results so far. 6 of you would vote for Obama.

I wonder how many of the 6 use to or still sell health insurance? I would think that every health agent would hate him now.