Diet and Nutrition. Natural Health, and Healthy Living

Just occasionally we get a really heartfelt comment on THCB that is passionate and rational, and reminds us why for all the bile spewed about the topic the essential partof the health care bill—making insurance available to everyone—is really important. This comment from CF Mother was left on my post “Thinking the unthinkable” on Friday. And of course, this could happen to anyone—including you. And frankly the Democrats need to do a better job explaining this—Matthew Holt

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I had an interesting call from a member of the legal profession the other day, and it got me thinking about the post-reform prospects for my own particular collection of bete noirs—the insurers who prey on desperate people in the individual market. Yes, you can expect the subject of Mega Life & Health to appear later in this article.

Now some dummies are starting to complain about what, to this point, have beenbroadly accepted parts of the upcoming reform legislation. Robert Samuelson is a typical advantaged recipient of community-rated insurance yet complains about the same conceptbeing extended outside his community-rated groupmade up ofWashington Post employees. AARP suggests in response that he should be sending (his much younger WaPo colleague) Ezra Klein a check, as Ezra is in effect subsidizing Samuelson’s health insurance.

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The Congress has investigated about every conceivable way to tax people to pay for the health care proposals—a millionaire’s tax, bigger taxes on home mortgages and charitable contributions, and a couple of dozen more ideas.

Now Congress looks to be the most interested in taxing insurance companies to pay for a big chunk of their health care proposals. The new taxes would come in two parts––a 35% excise tax on any health benefit cost above an $8,000 single and $21,000 family annual premium as well as a flat $6 billion annual tax on the industry to be allocated among the companies proportionate to their premium.

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The Congress has looked at taxing about everyone and everything to pay for half the cost of a health care bill.

They’ve considered sugary soft drinks, beer, “millionaires,” and “gold plated” health benefits to name a few. Every time they come up with one it gets shot down by the interests it would offend.

First, as I have asked on this blog before, why do we need to use at least $500 billion in new taxes to pay for half the cost of a health care entitlement expansion bill? We will spend somewhere between $35 trillion and $40 trillion on health care in this country over the next ten years. Many experts contend there is as much as 30% waste in what we spend.
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I'm recycling, but today someone asked me what I think we should do about health care reform. Funnily enough, we’re running a new(ish) series on h20tv.comin which anyone can give their 60–90 second view. Mine is here.

But the best thing I've ever written on the subject was put up 2 years ago on TMPcafe as part of a discussion series.I read it again today and it's still the clearest work I've done articulating my views on what reform should look like. Social insurance is the key--but it can handle competition, just not the type you're used to!.

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 Medicare, the largest insurance provider in the country, announced on October 1, 2008,  that it will no longer be financially responsible for the costs of hospital’s medical errors, nor will these costs be pinned on patients themselves.

 According to a study by The Institute of Medicine, conducted in 1999, preventable medical errors cause the deaths of 44,000-98,000 people each year. These deaths are the result of many preventable errors dealing with misdiagnosis, improper treatment, and inadequate preventative care.

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Last week, Congress got a step closer to passing a Mental Health Parity bill after years of debating the issue. The bill would require insurance companies to provide the same coverage for physical and mental ailments.

For more than a decade, both houses have passed different versions of the legislation only to see it fall apart at the end. The biggest hiccup now seems to be that the bill doesn't specify which mental disorders it will include.

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A few months ago, the MA Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) released a study that showed that mandated health insurance benefits cost insurance purchasers about $1.3 billion - or 12% of their premiums - each year. Thanks to DHCFP for publishing the study. This issue is always the source of heated debate, and it’s nice to have a piece included on it that tries to inform the discussion.

Business people read the study and said, “Ah ha! Mandates cost a lot of money!” That would be correct. Health care advocates read the study and said, “Ah ha! Mandates don’t cost that much money!” That’s correct too - sort of. As usual, where you stand depends on where you sit, how much twelve percent is worth to you for what you’re getting, and who pays the bill.

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Maggie Mahar is an award winning journalist and author. A frequent contributor to THCB, her work has appeared in the New York Times, Barron's and Institutional Investor. She is the author of Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Why Healthcare Costs So Much, an examination of the economic forces driving the healthcare system. A fellow at the Century Foundation, Maggie is also the author the increasingly influential HealthBeat blog, one of our favorite healthcare reads, where this piece first appeared.

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I just noticed that THCB today is all about last week and Sunday’s news—including Merrill Goozner and me jumping separately on the same magic quote in the NY Times CT piece. So how about three little pieces of news about stuff reported today.

First off, in a desperate attempt to keep the Republicans from losing all 33 Senate seats in November, CMS is freezing the cuts in Medicare fees which were due to go automatically into effect this week. Bob Laszewski has a just excellent explanation of how the Dems finally seem to have figured out how to play hardball with the Republicans andAHIP. Perhaps they’ve taken on Tom Delay as an advisor, now he’s not so busy. Meanwhile Bob thinks that the 7 missing Republican votes will return from July 4 and the Medicare Advantage and PFFS plans will get their comeuppance. Wall Street isn’t so sure, and those health plan stocks are trading higher today.

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