America’s Health Insurance Plans commercial in support of health reform, notice the
individual mandate words "if everyone is covered" and then they say "the word pre-existing condition will becomes a thing of the past."
That is the deal, now they just have to water down the competition (public option).
http://pnhp.org/blog/2008/11/20/ahip-bcbsa-support-guaranteed-issue-and-individual-mandate/http://www.ahip.org/content/pressrelease.aspx?docid=25068http://www.bcbs.com/news/bcbsa/bcbsa-announces-support-for.htmlHealth Plans Propose Guaranteed Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions and Individual Coverage Mandate
AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans)
November 19, 2008"If anyone has any remaining doubt that comprehensive reform is close at hand, just look at the response of the private insurance industry. AHIP, representing 1,300 insurance companies, and BlueCross BlueShield Association, insuring over 100 million individuals, in simultaneous press releases have confirmed that they understand that, if they want to continue to insure the majority of Americans, they must abandon their current business model and come to the table with policies that work. Policies that work means that everyone must be included, and that risk must be distributed in an equitable manner, based on ability to pay.
...What to do, what to do? The AHIP release gives us a couple of hints.
Those supporting universal coverage through private health plans have long conceded that tax credits (or vouchers) must be used to assist low-income individuals with the purchase of their plans.
In their press release, AHIP now states that we must use “refundable, advanceable tax credits for moderate-income individuals and working families.” Finally, the industry explicitly concedes that most of us can no longer afford to purchase their health plans. So who is going to help? The taxpayers. Gee, isn’t that us?
The other problem is how are they going to pay for the high-risk individuals who now must be covered? Their solution is somewhat more cryptic. They are going to “ensure premium stability for those with existing coverage through a broadly funded reimbursement mechanism that spreads costs for the highest-risk individuals.” “Premium stability” means that other sources will be paying the higher costs of the higher-risk individuals. What other sources? They propose “Guarantee Access Plans” which are “loosely modeled on state high-risk pools.” Oops. The taxpayers – us – again.
Think about it. The private insurance industry has just the solution for us, but only if we agree to foot the bill for those who actually need health care, while they continue to collect large premiums to pay for their egregiously wasteful administrative excesses.
Their proposal is to shift the real costs of health care to the taxpayer. They are right. We need to establish a universal risk pool and fund it equitably based on ability to pay. The only sensible way to do that is through a single payer national health program. Why would we want to implant on our health care financing system the cancer of private health plans?"
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