|
But seriously, on choosing to mandate insurance Obama made one of several choices that could have been made, and I can't be convinced that the government mandating a private industry expense is appropriate without a government alternative, or public option so to speak.
The main thing is that health insurance works by managing risk and reducing expense. It does that by underpaying procedure and regulating risk groups. Technically everyone at your office is paying higher premiums for every pregnancy in your group, not just cancer, high blood pressure and head-exploding incontinence.
The problem I see is that now we have essentially created a real legal basis for insurance companies claiming they have a right to profit, and as long as that exists, you will find that primary healthcare recommendations such as PAP, colonoscopy, PSA (prostate) will suddenly happen less frequently or not at all in some age groups, while the recommendation to medicate people for high blood pressure will now drop below systolic 120 so that pharma can profit off of people required to comply with their insurance wellness requirement.
Not catastrophizing, to be sure, but taxing tans without guaranteeing that the collected tax goes into skin cancer prevention is dishonest and disingenuous. I'm sure that every conceivable "sin" or "danger" tax that can be thought of is being thought of now. How about skiing and horseback riding. How about a premium change for speeding tickets and other traffic violations? For NOT having a gym membership, and using it. The door is open and we've essentially given mandate to our employers and insurers to babysit our health to manage their profits. Why should your employer continue to have access to your health records? By law they get to see every single expense on their year end analysis so even if they don't see your individual health record, the tests ordered and medications subscribed, by named subscriber are essentially the same, and can and do impact continued employment as long as that group coverage is subject to risk mitigation by managing your employee population.
I just don't like that we're screwed in even tighter.
|