Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

The Bush Sequel – Starring John McCain, Pt.1 -- the Storyline

Based on a true story with real people as posted by Sarah Rubenstein for the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog, Sarah provides the succinct storyline. At the beginning of the story, Obama is all but wrapping up the skirmish with Hillary. There wasn’t enough fire left between the two to keep the wolves away. The story turns now to the frontline of a war front where the issues are more grave. On one side of the line we are faced with a push toward private health insurance, a free-market free-for-all, no holds barred. On the other side of the line we are facing a push toward greater employee-based health insurance (with some coercion) and public health insurance (in need of some funding). On with the war…

As I said, on the one side we have the private health insurance ideologists, I call the Red Army, led by the supreme General McCain. Their strategy seems to be withdrawing incentive-based recourses from employers, such as the tax breaks those employers were depending on for providing employee health insurance in the first place. These tax incentives will now be awarded to the individual to, presumably buy private health insurance (the presumption based on the likelihood that employers will bail on offering further employee healthcare even quicker than the unprecedented rate they are doing that currently. So the trend will leave the individual little choice, but private health insurance (or none if they still can’t afford it or have a pre-existing condition and are rejected).

Continued…