Media Biased on Health Care Reform Bill

[JimofPennsylvan]

The Media is really biased in favor of the Democrats on Health Care Reform they want to see them pass something no matter what the negative effects are of the legislation this is evidenced by how the Media attacked and undermined the recently released Health Insurance Studies concluding the Senate Finance Committee’s Health Care Reform bill if enacted will cause health insurance premiums to rise dramatically.

The media’s criticism of the Insurance Industries studies are accurate, the studies did not consider all the provisions of the Finance Committee bill; nevertheless, even considering all these criticisms the studies’ basic conclusion is valid which is that this legislation will cause significant increases in health insurance premiums for a significant number of Americans. If one looks at the criticisms of the studies in a fair manner the criticisms don’t totally negate the value of the studies. One criticism is that the studies did not consider that this legislation provides that many Americans will receive financial assistance to buy health insurance; this financial assistance will only go to Americans with incomes up to three to four times the poverty level what about all the American families above that income threshold they aren’t rich, significant health insurance premiums increases will be a real burden – what about employers that are not small businesses this bill will cause their health insurance premium costs to dramatically rise granted some of these plans will get a five year reprieve because of the grandfather provisions in the bill but after five years these employers and their employees will be financially hit hard. The criticism that the studies did not consider the bill’s reinsurance program for employer sponsored health insurance plans doesn’t mean much because that program won’t be providing that great of financial help for a lot of employer sponsored plans it won’t nearly offset the premium increase rise this bill will cause. The criticism that the studies did not consider that the bill will provide lower out-of-pocket limits for health insurance plans for Americans so that supposedly for Americans their overall health care spending will be reduced; this is a flawed criticism because most Americans will not reach their health insurance out-of-pocket limits on health care spending on a yearly basis so this factor won’t be helping them financially.

The Democrat leadership has largely been glossing over and ignoring the major point of these studies which is that this legislation with its insurance plan mandates will cause health insurance premiums to dramatically rise. In states that have enacted some of these mandates, that very outcome has occurred. It is basic common sense that each one of these mandates will cost health insurance carriers money and so these carriers will pass such costs on to the beneficiaries in their plans. The American people deserve to know truthfully how much this reform legislation will be raising their health insurance premiums and especially for those Americans that fall into the categories of Americans whose incomes are above four hundred percent of the poverty level and Americans who have employer sponsored health insurance with non-small employers.

The American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) study offers some valuable input. It underscores the importance of Congress putting mechanisms in the reform legislation that cause a high percentage of Americans to obtain Health Insurance. Because unless there is high participation in obtaining health insurance amongst Americans then the Insurance Industry will not be able to spread its costs from the mandates in the bill across a wide number of beneficiaries and thus premiums will rise in an inordinate amount. The AHIP study concludes that if the bill has low or weak mandates on people to get health insurance and if one considers the mandates that health insurance companies can’t reject people for preexisting conditions and can’t charge them more in premium charges for their health problems than the average health insurance premium rise for individual health insurance across the nation will be 41% to 54% by 2016 from today’s prices. This outcome would not be providing help to the American people, Congress’s job.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (Oliver Wyman) study has value in that it supports the contention of the AHIP study that it is very important the reform bill having a strong mechanism to compel Americans to get health insurance. This study concludes that in those states that currently don’t have the insurance mandates this bill will put into effect, if there is weak mechanisms in the bill to compel Americans to buy health insurance, in these states which include two-thirds of the American population for insurance companies that provide individual health insurance in these states the average annual medical claim costs for these insurance carriers will increase 60 to 73% five years after the mandates are put into effect and that doesn’t include medical inflation increases. There is one glaring problem with this study, it concludes that all the mandates in this reform legislation will only increase individual health insurance premiums by ten percent; in states that have implemented only some of these mandates individual health insurance premiums have increased at least double this amount. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the blue cross and blue shield health insurance companies across the nation would make a commitment to only increase their health insurance premiums by ten percent because of the mandates in this health reform bill – that would require exceptional character and as the American people well know that reality is in short supply in corporate America!

Congress might want to consider if they can’t get the votes to put in financial penalties in the reform legislation to stop people from gaming the system, that is, to wait until their sick to get health insurance, maybe they can create other types of compliance mechanisms. Why doesn’t Congress say if a person does not fulfill their civic responsibilities to carry health insurance than they won’t have full access to America’s credit markets, they won’t be able to get a home loan(they will have to rent), they will be limited in the auto loans they can get – limited to the amount of low-priced models and limited in the amount of credit they can get from credit cards – say a $5000.00 credit limit amongst all the cards they carry!

 

[8236]

I think you need to clarify which parts of the above article(?) are yours and which are quotes from some newspaper or whatever. The structure of your post is too dense for the readership here and needs to be broken down into soundbite headlines, followed by catchy, preferrably controvercial statements. Then, very maybe you will get a response.

Unfortunately that's the way this messageboard (and prob. most others) seem to work. Middle of the road opinions get you nowhere.

All the best

 

[garyd]

Accurate assessment, Jim.

 

[uptownlivin90]

The Media is really biased in favor of the Democrats on Health Care Reform they want to see them pass something no matter what the negative effects are of the legislation this is evidenced by how the Media attacked and undermined the recently released Health Insurance Studies concluding the Senate Finance Committee’s Health Care Reform bill if enacted will cause health insurance premiums to rise dramatically.

Before I read any further can you please define the term "the media", and mention in your definition specific examples. Links, quotes, videos, something to support your opinion, because it just sounds like your whinning about people not reporting the way you want them to and unless your an editor for a major news outlet, you should really just shut up and turn the channel if your that disturbed by it. I can't stand the left or the right because all they do is bitch. Hell rent a DVD if you can't find something on TV or go outside and do something constructive besides listening to mainstream news and get mad when they aren't unbiased about sh**.