Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Elect Health Insurance, Pt.4 – Mr. Obama builds on employer-based plans.

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In order to resolve the current crisis, Mr. O will ask the businesses to share some responsibility to the benefit of their own workers. Commonly called the ‘play or pay’ system, Mr. O will require the medium to large businesses to either provide health insurance benefits to their employers or else, contribute into a ‘kitty’ which will enable those employees to obtain health insurance elsewhere. The amount of contribution hasn’t been set yet but, indications are that it will closely follow the successes of the Massachusetts universal health insurance model.

Right now that figure looks to be around 7% of each employee’s wages. 6% was found to be so little that employers were bailing out just to save money and put all of the burden on the government. So, if an employer offers health insurance benefits, they won’t have to pay a dime into the kitty. Still, they are expected to see their current health insurance rates drop, due to the reasons discussed in the last article.

As far as the small companies (25 workers or less) they will not be crushed if they can’t provide any health insurance at all. There will be exemptions in hardship cases. To assist any who will try, tax credit incentives will be offered to help them along. Remember, the main commitment of Mr. Obama is to provide both adequate and affordable health insurance to every American who wants it. Employee-based health insurance has always been the mainstay of our country and currently provides health security to about 170 million Americans (from latest 2007 US Census figures).

Mr. O. plans to shore this up because the recent trend has been so ugly. Over the Bush term, Americans have been steadily losing their employer-based health insurance. There are about 3 million fewer Americans having this health insurance since the election year of 2000.

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November News...