The
Health Care Crisis Grows While the 2010 Health Reform Shrinks
At its one year anniversary the Obama health care law is shrinking while the health care crisis grows . Americans who lack any health coverage still exceeds 50 million, over 45,000 deaths occur annually due to lack of health insurance, and 40 million Americans, including over 10 million children, are underinsured.
Premiums are
rising and coverage is shrinking a new norm is taking hold in America:
"Unaffordable underinsurance.' This
month, the number of waivers granted
to the Obama health law broke 1,000 protecting inadequate insurance plans.
The expansion of health insurance to the uninsured is becoming a mirage. The
Obama administration has told states they could reduce the
number of people covered by Medicaid as well as reduce the services
provided. And, the centerpiece of the
law is under court challenge -- the mandate is the first time ever the federal
government has forced Americans to buy a corporate product, private health
insurance -- is heading to a close Supreme Court decision.
The New
Norm: "Unaffordable underinsurance'
To make insurance premiums affordable, the quality of insurance will need to be reduced so there is less coverage and more out-of-pocket costs, as Don McCanne, MD, Senior Health Policy Fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program writes : "'Unaffordable underinsurance' is rapidly becoming the new standard in the United States." The trend in health insurance is rising premiums and shrinking coverage for many Americans who get their coverage at work as well as on the individual insurance market.
Premiums have been increasing with reports ranging from 20% to 60% increases for many Americans and businesses. Further, the law may decrease employment-based insurance by 3 million people by 2019 , according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation. This combined with high unemployment and underemployment will push people into the individual insurance market. The individual market is particularly at risk for increased premiums which is of growing importance because of high unemployment. Blue Shield of California decided this month to withdraw a major hike in the face of public outcry . This proposed 30%-35% increase would have been the third rate hike since October, the three increases would have raised rates by 59% to 87% for 200,000 policy holders. While some hope the Obama health law will slow premium hikes, Claudia Fegan, MD of Physicians for a National Health Program writes under the Obama heath law "sudden premium hikes are still possible and, in my opinion, quite likely under the new law."
Underinsurance, requiring Americans to pay more of the cost of health care, may become the norm because of the 2010 law. The new law will hasten the current trend toward underinsurance as plans where patients pay an average of 40% of their health care bills qualify to fulfill the employers' obligations to provide coverage rather than pay an assessment. Massachusetts, the model on which the Obama reforms are based, recently found that medical bankruptcies have not decreased with the new law. The lesson -- it is not just health insurance, but the quality of the insurance that matters. After deriding merely adequate insurance as Cadillac Plans," the Obama administration is showing support for high deductibility plans with large out of pocket costs that do not provide financial or health security.
One promise of the Obama health plan was that millions of underinsured would get decent insurance coverage because the "reform" required minimum levels of insurance. But, waivers to the requirements of the 2010 law are being widely granted resulting in millions of Americans continuing to have inadequate health coverage. Waivers allowing poor quality insurance affect 2.6 million people and are being granted rapidly to businesses, unions, insurance companies as well as states who cannot meet the Obama law requirements. The administration says the purpose of the waivers is to avoid disruption in the insurance market, in clearer language it is to prevent employers from dropping coverage and insurance companies from leaving markets. The requirement for a waiver is relatively simple; the applicant must show HHS "a significant increase in premiums or a decrease in access to benefits." Ninety-four percent of requests for waivers have been granted , the largest area where waivers have been denied has been for unions. Republicans have asked HHS for in-depth details about every waiver decision and request.
The major area of waivers are so-called mini-med plans , these are limited medical plans which provide workers with as little as $2,000 in health care coverage. The Obama health care law requires $750,000 minimum coverage in 2011. The mini-med plans do not provide security in the event of serious illness or accident. The vast majority of these waivers are for employment-based health coverage. Some of the initial waivers went to fast food chains like McDonalds and Jack-in-the-Box . Unions, insurance companies and state governments have also received waivers. Four states have received waivers , Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee. Waivers are set to disappear in 2014, when people will be required to purchase insurance with tax payer subsidies -- assuming that Obama health law survives and that low-paid workers can afford insurance even with a subsidy.
Expanded Numbers of Americans with Insurance Becoming a Mirage
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