Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Paul Ryan wants to kill you
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paul-ryan-wonk-health-care_us_58c3553ae4b0ed71826cdce2?jc91c1mj1jxajor&Critically, one of the things that Ryan wants to accomplish with this bill is to be able to say that he’s brought insurance premiums ― the money that pools so that blue can pay for red ― to lower prices for the individual consumer, especially the younger and healthier ones. Focusing on the sticker price of health insurance would provide Ryan with a positive-sounding talking point: “Hey, everyone, the cost of insurance under Obamacare was X, and now it is less than X!”
All of which sounds pretty good until you remember that (a) the money pooled to cover the sick is now less than what you started with, and (b) with Ryan’s watered-down version of the mandate, the young and healthy are more likely to simply stay out of the insurance market entirely, whether the premium costs are lower than ever before or not.
By now, you might be wondering how an insurance market filled with fewer younger and healthier people manages to keep premium costs down in the first place? Well, Ryan’s vision for health care is to keep the most costly insurance customers ― the aged and sick ― in high-risk pools. As The Huffington Post’s Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young report, Ryan’s bill “provides states [with] $100 billion over 10 years to establish high-risk pools or other mechanisms to support people with high medical costs.”
The problem is that this is not nearly enough funding to make high-risk pools work. As TPM’s Tierney Sneed notes: “A Commonwealth Fund study estimated in 2014 that it would cost the federal government $178.1 billion per year to fund a national high-risk pool program that would cover the Americans barred from insurance due to pre-existing conditions prior to the ACA.” Other studies have suggested that number might be smaller, but still woefully inadequate. As the Urban Institute’s Linda Blumberg told Sneed: “They’re kidding themselves if they believe that this is enough federal funding to make care adequate and affordable for such a high-need population.”
All of which sounds pretty good until you remember that (a) the money pooled to cover the sick is now less than what you started with, and (b) with Ryan’s watered-down version of the mandate, the young and healthy are more likely to simply stay out of the insurance market entirely, whether the premium costs are lower than ever before or not.
By now, you might be wondering how an insurance market filled with fewer younger and healthier people manages to keep premium costs down in the first place? Well, Ryan’s vision for health care is to keep the most costly insurance customers ― the aged and sick ― in high-risk pools. As The Huffington Post’s Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young report, Ryan’s bill “provides states [with] $100 billion over 10 years to establish high-risk pools or other mechanisms to support people with high medical costs.”
The problem is that this is not nearly enough funding to make high-risk pools work. As TPM’s Tierney Sneed notes: “A Commonwealth Fund study estimated in 2014 that it would cost the federal government $178.1 billion per year to fund a national high-risk pool program that would cover the Americans barred from insurance due to pre-existing conditions prior to the ACA.” Other studies have suggested that number might be smaller, but still woefully inadequate. As the Urban Institute’s Linda Blumberg told Sneed: “They’re kidding themselves if they believe that this is enough federal funding to make care adequate and affordable for such a high-need population.”
NO, they aren't kidding themselves ... this is what they WANT.
In an "automated economy," mass labor pools are no longer needed. Randians (like Ryan) LITERALLY want you to die.
Paul Ryan is just lending a helping hand ...
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
