Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Mr. McCain on Health Insurance/Care, Pt.10 – Knight takes Pawn, King awards Knight.

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The rules of the game ('Risk Selection Gaming Rules’) are; that the consumer makes the first move by applying for health insurance. The next move belongs to ‘the House’ who will then run a bunch of risk evaluations against the consumer. If the report comes back that ‘the House’ has the edge’, they will then, raise the ante by placing a brand new health insurance policy on the table and prompt the consumer to meet the raise with some cold hard cash. If, however, the report comes back with marginal results (like age or questionable health history), then ‘the House’ jumps the ante by ‘deuces’. This is where the consumer is induced to double the cash ante, while ‘the House’ only has to lay down a health insurance policy half as good as what was expected (‘House rules’, remember). (The ‘deuce’ term doesn’t always equal ‘2’. House rule #1 states that ‘the House is always right and wins all showdowns’.)

Now the move goes back to the consumer, who has the option of deciding if he has any chance of winning (it’s not about ‘fair’, remember). The 3 options are: ‘hold’, ‘fold’, or ‘walk away’. ‘Hold’, here, means that he accepts the terms and gets to hold on to the health insurance policy in hopes it’s not later ‘rescinded’ (he never really owns the policy. He just gets to ‘hold’ it.).

‘Fold’ here means that an impasse has been reached. His next recourse is to appeal to the state mandates, and search for a ‘state guaranteed access plan’. Independently, this state agency determines “how much a person's ailments will cost”. The paradox, here, is that the worse off a person’s health is, the better chance he has of winning (expected claims are higher than 200% of the statewide average). If so, the state will step in and assume this consumers health insurance.

If the consumer’s health is not ‘poor enough’, he will be sent back into the game to fend for his self. That person’s hope of getting health insurance from this point on are extremely limited. Meanwhile, ‘the House’ is always covered. All they have to do is ‘palm’ the bad risks off on the state and then ‘cherry-pick’ the ‘sweet ones’. Note: This is the game within the game, like in ‘Risk” where you strategize taking over the World, but settle the wars with a ‘roll-of-the-dice”. The larger strategy is the chess game, where AHIP can ply on the King’s clout of provision, provided the Knights protect the King. Would Mr. McCain find any use in this game? Naaahhhh. Everything’s to ‘vague’ to suppose anything like that.