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Nov 20, 2010

Health Insurance Thirst Mandate

His Benevolence:   I have decided to banish thirst from the land.

Advisor:   Of course Sire. Tell me more.

His Benevolence:   All health insurance will henceforth include unlimited purchases of refreshing drink, like Coke, Pepsi, and 7-Up. The peasants will slake their thirst and be reimbursed by the insurance companies. No co-pay.

Advisor:   Your name will be legend. Sire, will you be paying for this bounty?

His Benevolence:   The insurance companies will pay.

Advisor:   Yes Sire. To do so, they will have to collect more from the peasants. Probably much more, to satisfy the peasant's unbounded thirst. Will you be lightening your taxes?

His Benevolence:   Shall you feel the whip? The taxes remain.

Advisor:   Of course Sire. The peasants will have to do their best in their gratitude.

His Benevolence:   Whatever. Let it be so. I now grow tired of this subject.

Advisor:   I will inform the scribes.


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Medical Necessity vs Mandates
11/18/10 - InsureBlog
Washington state mandated birth control as "a medical necessity" to be covered by health insurance. So, premiums for everyone will go up to pay for the additional services.

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Free Birth Control
07/26/11 - John Goodman's Health Policy Blog

Free birth control isn’t really free. It will raise insurance costs. How mandates for free services work in reality.

[edited, restated]:  New individual policies sold under ObamaCare would offer new benefits used by more participants. This would increase the average premium by 27-30%, assuming other factors are constant.

The new coverages will cost 18-21% in added premium, and lowered cost-sharing (no copay) will increase use of these services for an additional 9% in premiums.

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Company Paid Health Insurance is Part of Your Salary

People are already personally paying for their "employer-paid" insurance. They don't buy it directly so (1) it doesn't attach to them when they change jobs, (2) and they can't shop for the insurance they might want.

1 comment :

quiznilo said...

"Untangle the tax mess, remove employers from the middle, and salaries would go up in the amount of the "free" healthcare benefit through employers. Then people would have enough take-home pay to buy their own health insurance. That is what healthcare reform should be all about."

Absolutely... I might throw in MSAs too, but these are the clearest, most common sense reforms necessary. I am convinced that Obamacare is more about control than it is solving any medical care problems.

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