Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

The Bush Sequel – Starring John McCain, Pt.4 -- the Storyline

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the line things are not so rosy. As has been seen, winning a popular vote, even over and over, can still lose the war. Uniting 47 million people on their own common cause is a little like trying to catch air with your fingers. It is so easily diverted. Most people don’t even appreciate the air they breathe until it’s gone. So it is with health. Without giving away the end, perhaps we should end by consulting the Oracles of Blog (otherwise known as the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog).

The first insight is offered by “wahf”. “wahf”’s observational wisdom offers this: “In a less-regulated environment in which insurers can exclude ‘pre-existing conditions,’ there is no such thing as universal access to insurance”. “Insurance is based on spreading risk, but in the [current] health insurance industry there is no spreading. It’s all about minimizing risk to the insurer (and thereby maximizing profit) while EXCLUDING those who would increase insurer risk.”

The second insight comes from a voice of experience. Someone named “Insurer Dream, Consumer Nightmare”. The experience portion is lengthy, but can be found on the WSJ’s Health Blog page, titled” Clinton, McCain & Obama Tiptoe Toward Middle on Health Insurance. Posted by Jacob Goldstein - May 1, 2008, 8:08 am. “ID-CN” shares: “I don’t believe McCain’s proposal would be helpful to those who currently don’t have insurance because it’s too expensive, have pre-existing conditions or who are over 50. The net effect, I’m afraid, would be an increase in the number of vulnerable, uninsured Americans and a windfall to insurance companies that would primarily market and sell expensive catastrophic policies which for most people, in most years, would pay out nothing in benefits because of high deductibles. Providers would also fare better under the McCain plan because there would be little or no restriction on what they can charge when consumers are paying out of pocket until the high deductibles are met. As usual, the 70% of American families earning under $75,000 per year would get the shaft from the GOP.”

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