After a year of health reform back and forth….after a year of lies and misinformation…after a year of name calling and insults……after a year of political jockeying…….after a year of total Hell in Washington…..we have a health reform law…..that is NOT good enough states are trying to sue the government to stop the law….but all the while are preparing to implement the law….
The Dems have gone on the air and taunted the benefits of the law…..have talked about the victory for the people….but is it everything good that the Dems have echoed? Is it all that and a bag of chips?
According to the Politico’s Jennifer Haberkorn:
Part of the health care overhaul due to kick in this September could strip more than 1 million people of their insurance coverage, violating a key goal of President Barack Obama’s reforms.
Under the provision, insurance companies will no longer be able to apply broad annual caps on the amount of money they pay out on health policies. Employer groups say the ban could essentially wipe out a niche insurance market that many part-time workers and retail and restaurant employees have come to rely on.
This market’s limited-benefit plans, also called mini-med plans, are priced low because they can, among other things, restrict the number of covered doctor visits or impose a maximum on insurance payouts in a year. The plans are commonly offered by retail or restaurant companies to low-wage workers who cannot afford more expensive, comprehensive coverage.
So, what happens in the US if a man or woman collapses on the street, or is hit by a car, is rushed to hospital unconscious and it eventually turns out that this person has no health insurance (for whatever reason)?
Or, for instance, in that case, if such a person has fallen into a coma he or she might turn out to be Richard Gere or Kylie Minogue, or a vagrant, but until that is determined nobody knows if they have insurance or not?
In the US an emergency room cannot refuse to treat a seriously injured person by law……that is part of the argument about illegals getting free healthcare….they go to the emergency room where they must be treated….
So what’s your problem? I can see the question about minor conditions that could become major if untreated, but there are provisions for that too I believe.
Look, there’s one thing most people in the US (and in the UK) go on about almost continuously and that’s INSURANCE! Mostly, if an insurance company will cover you against something, it’s so unlikely to happen it’s not worth paying the goddamned premium! That’s the way it works! Why are people so bloody scared of what MIGHT happen? If (when?) it does, then it does – end of! What about getting on with real life whilst you have it like the vast majority of humanity has to do?
The fact that some 1 million people could be without insurance and they will go on the public rolls by going to the ER every time they have a cough……
Of course, but that’s the way governments (all governments) work, or rather DON’T! Shift the payment from one budget to another. It’s all about appearances – the fact that it’s the SAME poor old f*cking taxpayer paying doesn’t occur to them and they’d hardly care less if it did!
Bureaucracy’s great, isn’t it?
So true……a great deal of waste and stupidity….me thinks