Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE
Ann Braly’s ( CEO of WellPoint), article in the Wall Street Journal on February 7,2007 signaled an aggressive campaign by the healthcare insurance industry to force the federal government to subsidize healthcare insurance even more than it is presently.
The healthcare insurance industry wants the passage of Obamacare with the deal President Obama made with them. Part of the deal was to mandate insurance and increase deductibles from 20% to 30%.
“This scheme presented by Obamacare would have been, and might still be, imposed on the rest of the country.”
The original scheme (Obamacare1) was forced to be modified because mandating healthcare insurance was challenged as being unconstitutional.
Thirty two states have passed laws prohibiting healthcare insurance mandates. Mandates would be great for the healthcare insurance industry. They would increase the number of customers insured.
At the request of several congressmen last year, including some Democrats, WellPoint mined its own actuarial data to model ObamaCare and found that it would as much as triple premiums for the small businesses and individuals who are most of the company's customers.
WellPoint is declaring that Obamacare 2 will triple premiums. It is important to note that WellPoint did the math using accounting practices permitted by the government. The result is loading the overhead.
There is no evidence that any congressmen or the President has challenged WellPoint’s estimates until Mrs. Braly’s WSJ interview. No one has challenged the accounting methodology. The government is assuming the healthcare insurance industry numbers are correct. It would also be important to understand the math in the actuarial estimates.
The government should be looking at the defects in accounting methods. It should also look at the accuracy of the actuarial calculation.
“The White House political shop promptly compared WellPoint to a tobacco company.
President Obama uses political sound bytes all the time. His sound bytes have little substance. He should become aware of the fact that the average citizen is tired of his nice sounding rhetoric.
The healthcare insurance industry is ripping off the consumer and the government. The government should make the right accounting rules, incentivize the consumer and physicians to decrease the cost of healthcare and get out of the way.
I knew it would not stop at Anthem in California. The healthcare insurance industry is exempt from antitrust laws. I predicted that WellPoint’s argument is paving the way for other healthcare insurance companies to increase its rates.
“For example, Anthem in Maine was denied an 18.5 percent increase last year and is now requesting that state regulators approve a 23 percent rise.
Michigan's Blue Cross Blue Shield plan requested approval for premium increases of 56 percent in 2009. And in the state of Washington, rates for some individual health plans increased by up to 40 percent until regulators cracked down.
Other states cited in the report were Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island.
The premium increases affect the most vulnerable part of the health insurance market, policies marketed individually to customers buying their own plans.”
The goal of WellPoint is to raise the rates on individual plans which have patients at risk for using healthcare insurance. Its position is the government should pay for the risk and that is the deal they made with President Obama before he changed the deal.
“According to the Census Bureau, only about 9 percent of Americans purchase coverage directly, while nearly 60 percent are covered under employer plans. Family premiums for those with workplace coverage rose 5 percent last year, even as inflation fell 1 percent, but nowhere near the rates seen in the individual market.”
The mandate to the healthcare insurance industry is they must accept all employees regardless of pre existing illness in group plans. They can raise the rates of group plans depending on the demographics of the group rather than community rate the group. Community rating should add a community pressure point to individuals that do not take care of their health.
Older self employed individuals cannot qualify for healthcare insurance under present healthcare insurance company rules. Even if they qualify for insurance these consumers have to pay for insurance with after tax dollars. The existing rules decrease individuals’ ability to afford healthcare insurance.
On top of that the insurance industry demands unconscionable premium increases. The solution is for State Insurance Boards to refuse to grant these companies a license to sell insurance in their state.
Another solution should be making healthcare insurance tax exempt just as employer insurance is tax exempt. Obamacare wants to make all insurance payments non tax exempt to increase government revenue while placing a bigger burden on individuals and groups.
The healthcare reform bill should change the rules so that all insurance is community rated and everyone is qualified to buy insurance regardless of preexisting illness. The bill should create ideal medical savings accounts for everyone so they become responsible for their own health and healthcare dollars.
“Insurers say the push for higher premiums reflects supply and demand. Medical costs keep going up, even in a weak economy. Many healthy people are dropping coverage or switching to bare-bones policies to keep their bills down. That leaves a higher proportion of people with health problems in the risk pool, forcing the steep rate increases.”
This is the reason to start from scratch with the Ideal Medical Savings Account. Medical Savings Accounts are an insurance product Democrats refuse to consider. It will decrease the power of the federal government’s ability to keep the citizens in a state of fear and them in power. (Shock Doctrine).
It is time for us to say we are not going to take this anymore.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.
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