Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Health Insurance/care Developments, Pt.6 – Underinsured, uninsured still in trouble.

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As far as de-regulation of the health insurance industry, John is selling the advantage of cheaper health insurance premiums.  What is not mentioned is the disclaimer.  Taking away the consumer protection mandates that most of the individual states impose allows big corporations to do, pretty much, what they want.  A few states, like Florida, are already experimenting with this approach.  They’re allowing selected health insurance providers to ignore protective mandates and sell a new kind of insurance.  Almost like a restaurant menu, consumers can pick only the entrees and sides they want and not pay for what they don’t want or can’t afford.

Sounds great, how’s that working out?  According to experts, mainstream media, the public and even much of the health insurance industry, it has scored failing grades on all counts.  Especially troubling was the inadequacy of what people could afford.  To find out why, please refer to the article series’:  “Health Insurance Still Plummeting “, “Hidden Dangers of Inadequate Health Insurance”, “Major 'Underinsured' Sector”, “Crist's Health Insurance Plan Ill-defined”, “FL Gov. Crist Approves Badly Needed Health Insurance”, “Florida Not There Yet”, “Florida’s 3rd Report Card…Coming Up Short” and  “Fla. Health Insurance Flops Fast”.

As far as Mr. McCain tending to the greater numbers in crisis, that is the 45.7 million Americans with no health insurance, it looks like almost nil.  Major experts have ran independent studies and came up with the same figures and results:  Mr. McCain’s plan will help about 5 million of them for a short time, but this will settle back to only 1 million by five years time.  For a good explanation of these figures and who these experts are, please refer to the article series entitled:  “Health-Care Contrasts”.

The ’Globe’ went on to summarize that time is going to bear out predictions of non-biased experts. Detractors have long hammered on the Massachusetts model and its experts. Over and over again, the model has prevailed. Now, the detractors are predicting that preventive care given to the formerly uninsured will not pay off. The verdict is only months away and Romney’s “Lessons We’ve Learned” article is very likely to bear itself out again. If it does, then Obama will be confirmed. The “Globe’s” assessment of McCain’s radical destruction of our current risk-sharing employer-based health insurance system and his right-wing ideologue's vision of turning over our nation’s lifeline to the tender mercies of an unregulated profit-obsessed behemoth is “prescription for disaster" (Boston Globe, 9/21).