HHS issued regulations within the first three months of ACA passage, mostly nullifying the plain language for grandfathered health insurance plans in the bill. The insurance companies are simply complying with the regulations.
But first, here is a message from the Heritage Foundation on the effects of defunding Obamacare:
(as always, my comments appear in cayenne)
from the article:
…Now on to the second issue of how we could improve health care if we are lucky enough to stop this abomination called Obamacare. Here are some suggestions.
1. Implement tort reform: Cut down on frivolous lawsuits and defensive medicine, and you reduce the cost of health care by 10 percent instantly. While we’re at it, let’s go back to the time when lawyers were not allowed to advertise on TV. We don’t need lawyers on TV talking lazy, unemployed bums into claiming brain damage from a phony medical error.
>> We can do tort reform while recognizing that genuine malpractice should have consequences. I would also like to see an end to ambulance chasers gathering class actions via TV ads (like mesotheleoma, several IUDs, and other such groups) but this seems to conflict with the first amendment. <<
2. End state government-run health insurance monopolies: Allow insurance companies to sell across state lines. Allow anyone from any place to buy the best coverage for the money, regardless of the state. Instead of only having a few choices, you would have more than 1,300. Competition lowers cost — just look at your cellphone bill now compared with 10 years ago.
>>The People or employers should be free to decide what coverage they require, instead of the states. The prohibition against selling health insurance across state lines dates back to the New Deal, and only serves to drive up costs and limit choices. We can optionally buy car insurance (okay, this is not an option if you plan on driving a car), life insurance, disability insurance and more across state lines, and in some cases, worldwide. You don’t want to buy coverage that includes happy pills, hysterectomies or vasectomies? If you’re gay, should you be paying for well-child and pregnancy coverage? You should have that choice. You should also be free to not purchase health insurance at all. You should also be free to buy high deductible insurance, which used to be known as “major medical”. See bullet point 4.<<
3. Reduce drug-addicted newborn babies: There is a drug-addicted baby born every hour in America, at a cost of $1 million per child. This needs to stop. Make having crack babies child abuse punishable by a minimum of five years in prison. When people know there is a tough consequence for their actions, many will change their ways. At least those who break the law won’t be making more drug-addicted babies for five years.
<< I hadn’t considered this before, but it’s hard to argue that having drug-addicted babies is not child abuse. >>
4. Create health saving accounts: Allow people to buy low-cost catastrophic health coverage, and then put money into a savings account for their everyday health care. Watch how prices drop when consumers start asking how much a certain treatment or procedure costs before getting it. Americans know how to shop, so let them.
<< Going back to the cash plan will save everybody more, including the health care providers who suddenly won’t need to hire three employees to wade through mountains of paperwork to get paid, to say nothing about the claims adjusters the insurance companies will no longer need. We have had limited HSAs for decades, but they have been mostly pre-tax on an annual use it or lose it basis. Obamacare limits HSA contributions to $2500.00 beginning next month which won’t affect many of us, except for those who actually need it, such as those with autistic children or some other birth defect.
If I were to design a health plan for younger folks, I’d allow HSAs to roll-over and accumulate and set the deductible to increase according to use. For most of us, this account would accrue with interest over the years, and be available in the fifties or later when actual use begins to occur. Wider use of HSAs would also eliminate the need for dental or eye care coverage, just for starters. >>
