Get Real About Health Reform

Seems like everybody is talkin' 'bout the problems with health reform (just "seems" like it, really, most people really do want health reform). But how many of the naysayers really know how the proposed reforms would affect their lives and their small businesses (if they have them)? Seems like an obvious question to answer before flying off the handle with anger and fear, but that's just me. Still, if we can make sure everyone has the facts straight, this debate would be a whole lot more useful than the craziness we have now.

In the interest of making health reform personal and real in everyday language, as opposed to 1300 pages of legalese, the Center for American Progress released a couple really useful interactives that explain clearly what reform will do, along with a video explaining the Health Exchange.

The first interactive is Health Care Reform and You. Just check off:

• The type of insurance you have now (even if you already have government insurance from Meidcare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, or the Armed Services or if you have no insurance now -- nearly half the population)
• How large your household is (do you have uninsured or underinsured children, or are you caring for live-in parents)
• How much money you earn (big ranges, so you don't have to give up personal information)
• Whether or not you have a pre-existing health condition (which would lock you into your job or make you ineligible for insurance)

and it will tell you what specific impact health reform will have on you.

The second interactive calculates the credit your small business will get with the proposed health reforms. Just enter the number of employees you have, their average annual compensation, and the qualified employee health coverage expenses.

And to wrap up the package, there is a nice video explaining how the Health Exchange works.

So, next time someone starts telling you what is wrong with health reform, show them these. Then have your conversation with them. Nothing like an informed policy debate, eh?

Follow Alan Rosenblatt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drdigipol

Comments

[Duppy]

Hey ! dont you pay attention. THERE IS NO SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM !

[villageinoc]

I have owned a small Business for 33 years. Many of our employees have been with us for over twenty years. Two of our employees started with us when we opened our first art gallery. But it has become increasingly difficult to provide quality health insurance for ourselves and our employees. Health insurance has become a major expense as it goes up every year. This year alone our health insurance increased 29%. Our workman's comp insurance, which to me is another form of health insurance, has also gone up every year. In order to stay in business this year, we had to go with a $2700 deductible plan and we can only afford to pay 50% of our employees' premiums and 0% for their families. If small business think that they do not pay for health care now they are misguided. With Workmens Comp all business pay into that whether they provide health care or not.I do not nderstand why we need to have double medical insurance, health and workman's comp. Paying for health insurance and workman's comp is like paying twice for the same coverage. I hope that workman's comp insurance will be seriously considered during the debates on healthcare reform. By having one system we would not have to pay two different health care systems. We could save Millions of dollars and provide good health care at affordable rates and get rid of Workman's Comp insurance which is riddle with fraud anyway.

[Carole888]

I am a self-employed person and after being uninsured for many years managed to get myself health insurance in 2002. I opted for a high deductible health plan ($2400 deductible) because of the low monthly cost ($69) and my history of good health.

Since 2002 Blue Shield of California has continued to raise my premiums once or twice a year citing rising costs in the healthcare industry. As of July 1st of this year my monthy premium has now reached $411/month. That is a whopping increase of about 500% since 2002.

I must tell you in all the years of having this insurance I have not once hit my deductible. I put an additional $250/month into an HSA to pay for what my insurance does not cover. My combined outlay per month for health care is $661/month.

Our local paper stated health insurance premiums have more than doubled since 2002. Why have my premiums increased by six times? I can only assume this is unregulated price gouging, discrimination against me because I am self-employed, or Blue Shield trying to shield themselves from some sort of potential high risk that the policy I have would make them have to cover.

I am at the point I can no longer afford the cost of my insurance and I have to find some other kind of coverage.

We need an affordable option for people like me. Having health insurance linked to employment is no longer a realistic option.

[equianimi]

I have family members that are too hardheaded to educate themselves or bother to understand what health reform truly means. I've tried going over more than just these ideas with them yet they seem to think I'm telling a story when I say we're already paying for the uninsured, or when I say medicare fraud is rampant yet rarely ever uncovered due to lack of attorneys working for the program. It takes a higher level of education and understanding to see what isn't on the TV in front of you. In my state of Indiana, much of what is on TV are the lies and smear campaigns used by the RNC to keep those that are uneducated shooting themselves in the foot.
I'd like to say some of my family and friends are just ignorant, but that would mean they haven't been taught and explain the truth. The sad fact is some Americans are just plain stupid and the real problem is getting them to help themselves while they have others feeding them lies designed to cause themselves to lose out in life.

[PlaceboStudman]

The current course of insurance-but-you-all-call-it-health-care reform won't help me one iota. I am and will be disabled, whether I have insurance or not. I am and will be potentially terminally ill, whether I have insurance or not. And lest you all forget, there are millions of us in this country who are one accident or one stroke away from being the next terri schiavo, whether you have insurance or not.

But, of course, no one has the cajones to address any of those issues

[Deobler]

My brother, who wrote the information you’re about to read, is what I would call a Republican – or in his words, the “lesser of two evils.” He’s been an attorney his entire life, and a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War era. He’s an intelligent and passionate believer in liberty, and he’s neither vain nor proud of his experiences and knowledge. He loves this country, but dislikes the absurdities our politicians have created. You don’t have to agree with him, but you do need to hear him out. If you have a better understanding of our constitution or our Republic, then your voice is needed now also.
We all need to understand the deep and massive changes happening in this country as we speak. At times, a loud and angry debate helped to birth our nation. It’s again time for those debates – not bad manners, riot, or lawlessness, but a quiet and forceful movement back to the basics. It’s again time we woke up and behaved like a free people before it’s too late.
Again, you may disagree with what is written, but massive changes taking place now may not be so easy to change later after we all realize that we are in the middle of The New Reality. You can read more about the Invisible Cost of Government at http://www.wordpress.com/deobler.

by Alan Deobler

[NewmanKitten]

Link didn't work!!! Wanna read it, please repost if you come back here.

[NordicSci]

I'll make a deal with you. You read Thomas Frank's recent book "The wrecking crew" and I will read your brother's take on "liberty" and the Constitution. Frank describes the "absurdities our [conservative] politicians have created" over the past 30 years. The point is, really, that if one truly wants to be informed on American political traditions, political philosophy, etc. it will take a lot more than one person's take on what's gone wrong with America. There is a lot of good material out there. For a short and very readable introduction, you might try Benjamin Barber's 1998 "A place for Us: How to make society civil and democracy strong" .

[rwoodsathome]

Are you really happy with HR3200?
Are you comfortable that the IRS will be part of Health Care (I see TurboTax and it's brother TurboHealth in the future)?
Are you satisfied that you will not be contributing to your own health care (this plan is funded on cuts in Medicare and taxing the rich - those receiving the benefit won't have to pay even a co-pay)?

This is not health insurance reform - it is health insurance takeover. The plan is to create a government bureaucracy to keep the insurance bureaucracy honest. Who is going to keep the government honest? Elected officials? - not if votes are involved.

A single-payer system will only work when those receiving the services have to pay (personal tax) to receive the service. That is the part that is completely left out of the debate. Dumping on the rich may feel good, but it is not a sustainable platform to build an insurance program.

When the American public becomes willing to accept a new tax on earnings to fund their insurance, then we can establish a single-payer system. Until then we are just kidding ourselves.