Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Mass. Medical Model Shines, Pt.9 – Poised for the next frontier.

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The final assessment is the emphasis that the whole nation is watching this Massachusetts model closely. It has been earmarked as a possible health insurance/care prototype for the national scale. With bi-partisan co-founder, Senator Ted Kennedy at the helm, exposure has become widespread. He has spent the last few months hosting discussion panels Senator Ted chairs a key Senate Health Committee and was the one who called for health insurance/care reform in the Senate. The Democrats in Congress call him “the captain of the team” when it comes to health insurance/care reform issues. Teddy is presently out and about in the wider arena, meeting with congressional staff (including from Obama’s office) as well as various stakeholders including doctor’s groups and health-care coalitions.

As with any large system, efficiency is integral with how well its subsystems integrate with each other. Some of the tenets used here are found essential for causes and effects that counterbalance elsewhere. One of these is the ‘compulsory mandate’. Most casual observers view this clause as being something extra, even excessive. What they don’t realize is the counter balances that depend on this. Very critical areas, such as ‘free-rider’ control and even more importantly, Health Insurance Industry approval. As Bill & Hillary learned the hard way, a modicum of fictitious characters like “Harry & Louise” can upset the whole applecart. In this country presently, Health Insurance Industry approval is required. They demand mandating ‘every one’, in exchange for critical concessions on their part. At this point only one formidable entity is promoting this: Senator Wyden’s new plan, called the Healthy Americans Act. (For more details on this and Senator Kennedy’s involvement, please refer to article series “Health Insurance & Capitol Hill”.)