Taking a Look at Health Insurance
Categories: Politics
Tags: CBO insurance deductibles health premiums pre-existing health issues
I will list some things that I found on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) website.
First off, everyone will be required to have “qualified” health insurance, not sure how constitutional that requirement would be, however, nor did I find what the definition of a qualified health insurance be. However, fines ranging from $750 for an individual and up to $3,800 per family. Somebody might add it up and decide the fines would be less expensive.
Let us look at the numbers for a moment. Using scenarios and a zip code, I found a number of insurance companies offering plans. Let us just say these are “affordable” and let you decide if they would be a choice for you. No particular order, I am not recommending any product by any means only using them as an example.
Company A Saver plan.
20-year-old male non-smoker no pre-existing health issues can get hospitalization insurance for $31.14 a month.
20-year-old female smoker, no other pre-existing health issues can get this same policy for $38.77
54 year-old female non-smoker with pre-existing health issues same policy $109.31
40 year-old male with 39 year-old wife and two children aged 14 and 11 with no pre-existing conditions comes to $159.87.
This policy while inexpensive has a huge deductable at $10,000 dollars per person to max out $10,000. The enrollee must pay the deductable before the insurance pays anything. Doctor’s office visits, medications and other outpatient services are not covered. It would be my guess these plans would not be a “qualified” insurance policy.
Company A Select plan.
49 year-old male smoker with pre-existing health issues, on this plan his cost would be $126.87 again the problem is the $10,000 deductable, and $5,000 out-of-pocket expenses, which is not included in the deductible. Doctor visits, medications, health exams are covered and not subject to the deductable; which is a good thing due to having to pay $10,000 a year to visit the doctor just once.
Company B Better read all the detail plan
20-year-old female no health issues can get coverage for $41.07 monthly. Doctor’s office visit no charge after deductible, periodic health exams, no charge no deductable with limitations, plus other services after deductable. Deductable is $7,500 and out of pocket expenses includes the deductable. If this young woman was seeing my doctor she would be paying $166.00 for the office visit, however needs to wait 3 months before making any appointments.
54 year-old female with health issues can get the same plan for $146.59 a month.
Company B another read all the details plan
29-year-old male, with 28 year-old wife and 10-year-old child. Their insurance would run $147.99 a month. $10,000 dollars per person deductible $20,000 maximum. No charge for doctor’s visit after deductible is paid. Annual out-of-pocket expenses is included in the decutible.
Company C low deductible plan
40-year-old male, 30-year-old wife, 3-year-old son their monthly premium is $948.92. Deductible is $500 per person or $1,500 per family. Out of pocket expenses $7,500 for family which includes the deductible.
Company C
49-year-old male smoker with weight issues pays $426.00 for this plan. No deductible, out-o-pocket expenses $5,000. This one looks good if you can afford the monthly payment.
A family of three with no issues same policy would run $797.00
Everyone should read the CBO’s reports to obtain a better understanding and the concerns raised questioned by some senators. If you want to know the truth about the health plan read the reports, read the bills. That is what matters. What I find interesting is what Obama says and what the CBO says conflict.
Some people will be paying more for their polices. Seniors will be paying more for their Medicare, but the offset will be lower medication costs.
Other concerns would be companies that do not now offer insurance to employees. Question was raised would employers lower the wages of employees to either cover added costs of the insurance or penalties for non-compliance the answer was possibly. My thought would be if the company was just large enough to be mandated, then would they layoff some workers to be under the limit? Keep the pay the same, just fewer workers.
With mandates for insurance companies to accept people regardless of pre-existing conditions, among other mandates, increased competition, etc, what would the effect on the monthly premiums? The answer was they would be slightly lower. Now let me get this straight, if you make just a little too much for government assistance and you cannot afford the insurance premiums now, how will a slight decrease in monthly payments be of help?
Candace Clark
The reason Obamas version is different than CBO is congress has been working on their modified version,Obama has said he was open to comprimise and suggestions but won't waiver in other areas.He also said small buisness would get a tax break and some would not have to pay much to cover their employees, because he knows they wouldn't have enough to cover the expense and make ends meet.Because of this new administration congress is finally going tho have to listen to WE THE PEOPLE instead of their lobbyest pals,we aren't going to stand by and let them line their pockets at the expense of our lives and health,thats why I believe they are REALLY yelling "you lie" to discredit him so they don't have a real watchdog.Obama believes in holding himself and others in government accountable,no one likes that.Especially those who are getting by by doing the least for their constituants.
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I haven't read through the new S. 1679 as it was introduced September 17th and is over 800 pages long. However, I did notice something that insurance premiums would be considered in excess if the premiums were over 12.5 percent of the adjusted gross income. I quickly figured what the rates on the plan that we have might be, they could be doubled and still considered affordable. Yikes! Some people may be finding themselves suddenly having to pay a surcharge on their premiums that they hadn't counted on. Not to mention if their rates are doubled, but they haven't had a pay raise in two years. Ouch!
The businesses are going to figure out which is the most affordable to them, and that is what they will most likely do. If providing insurance takes away from the bottom line, a few choices, lay people off, raise prices, pay the penalties if that turns out to be less expensive, or worse close down.
I not trying to use scare tactics, just trying to point out some of those nasty unforeseen consequences.
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According to Yahoo News the White House is in a battle with Fox News,over their lack of reporting facts, and just plain being sleazy.They have that sleazy Glen Beck who we all know is a hatemonger, calling the president fithy names at every turn.He himself seems like the racist, for all his filthy talk.Him and Rush are in the same category-FILTH AND HATEMONGERING.
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Both sides are guilty of fear mongering, and hateful name calling. I have visited many different sites and am appalled by what has been said by those that at least claim to be conservative and those that claim to be liberal. Both sides have been stirring the pot because they know the other side will get into a feeding frenzy. It was no different when Bush, Clinton or any other president.
People should not listen just to the MSM cheerleaders of Obama nor should they listen to exclusivly FOX. However, I do believe that citizens should keep themselves well informed, read the bills. Provided of course that Congress posts them. One wonders why the current health care reform bill will not be posted until who knows when. Or is this something to get the conservatives into a tizzy? So much for transparency.
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This bill will FINALLY be passed when CONGRESS quits haggling and trying to find fault with every little bitty word that they THINK could POSSIBLY be misconstrued!
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Since Democrats have full control of both houses, and could get this bill passed without a single Republican vote, what is their problem?
Sure Republicans are pointing out problems with the plan. If the Republicans were in control of Congress and the White House we would be hearing screams from the Democrats. That is the way things have always been.
Republicans have not been able to get anything out of committee not to mention anything making it to floor. So who is actually holding things up? The Democrats themselves.
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Funny, I never mentioned a political party! Actually I WAS referring to the Dems.
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I was just thinking about Taking a Look at Health Insurance and you've really helped out. Thanks!
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A couple of points – there are already a couple of states (Massachusetts is one) where everybody is required to have health insurance ... if it were unconstitutional I would expect it to have been challenged before now. Secondly, if all uninsured people take up insurance, it may well drive the price down for everybody.
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Thanks Candace … but what is the alternative, as you see it? Personally I think a major focus on preventing health problems would be appropriate - preventable diseases cost trillions of dollars per year in health costs. Removing a percentage of those, and suddenly insurance is a lot less expensive.
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