Protect the insurance companies

Toni McAllister

Republicans in Congress released their version of a health care reform bill this week. The bill, which has no chance of passing, makes several promises in its opening section, such as lower health care costs and expanded insurance coverage “without raising taxes, cutting Medicare benefits for seniors, adding to the national deficit, intervening in the doctor-patient relationship or instituting a government takeover of health care.”

Perhaps I’m a little sensitive, but aren’t references like “intervening in the doctor-patient relationship” and “government takeover” just a little over the top?

Oh well I guess the Party has to resort to scare tactics because how else can they get public support on a bill that should have been called, “Protect the Insurance Companies?”

The current Republican bill offers no definitive measures that would prohibit insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions. Nor does it offer any financial help for low- to middle-income earners who need to purchase medical insurance on their own.

If I understand correctly, under the Republican plan, the poor still qualify for assistance, and the wealthy are relatively unaffected because they can afford to pay for health care. However, the middle-class–particularly the self-employed–will still be faced with lofty insurance premiums or no insurance at all because they can’t afford it.

And since there’s no explicit reform that would prohibit insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, again it’s the middle-class that’s most affected: The poor qualify for aid and the wealthy pay out of pocket where insurance leaves off. As for the middle-class, the message is this: stay employed and stay healthy because the alternative is costly … and potentially deadly.

Toni McAllister is SWRNN’s lifestyles reporter. You can e-mail her at toni.mcallister@yahoo.com.

Tags: california health care, health care reform, SWRNN, Toni McAllister

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Health . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.