What the hell?
You know, maybe I should be delighted by Bush’s new “health care reform.” Domestic partner benefits are already considered taxable income. Maybe I should be thinking, “Finally. Straight people are getting a taste of their own medicine.” Maybe I should, but I can’t. In part because wishing misfortune on others just isn’t me. In part because I’d be willing to bet domestic partner benefits will still be exempt from the tax credit.
When Bush’s proposal was described to me yesterday, my jaw hit the floor. This is seriously the best Bush can come up with? What does taxing insurance premiums have to do with doing something about lowering medical costs? What does it do for the poor who aren’t paying a whole lot in taxes to begin with; who don’t have medical coverage and aren’t getting the current tax benefit in the first place? Am I the only one who sees Bush’s ludicrous “health care reform” as a boon to insurance companies? According to The Washington Post:
Advocates said the proposals would hold down health-care costs by motivating people to seek plans that cost $15,000 or less, and would help put basic insurance within reach of about 5 million of the uninsured (Lee, 2007).
This makes me so angry I’m having a hard time being coherent. Shopping for cheaper health plans doesn’t mean getting a better deal. It means doing without. What they are really saying is people should be looking at less comprehensive health plans, opting for the newest offerings for the “price conscious consumer” (read unable to afford anything else): catastrophic medical insurance. Catastrophic medical insurance basically means paying for your basic medical costs out of pocket because the deductibles are so high they’re hard to hit. Translation: people shouldn’t be spending so much time at the doctor’s office and if they have to pay for it out of their own pocket maybe they’ll think twice about going.
Yeah. That’s going to help the uninsured. If they can’t afford medical insurance, they sure as hell aren’t going to be able to pay for medical care out of pocket. Or you’ll end up like my sister and her self-employed husband who have to budget and schedule medical treatment for their children, including one son’s hernia surgery, because even hernia surgery doesn’t meet the deductible requirements for their catastrophic medical insurance, the only thing they can afford.
Unless of course you’re making enough money that affording insurance isn’t a big deal, or your healthy enough that it’s easy to come by. Bush’s plan will make sure that the only people who have good health coverage are the ones who don’t need it. Insurance companies will finally no longer have to pay out all that money for those pesky sick people.
One of my professors, who also has a private practice, made the observation in class yesterday, “I’m not getting paid anymore than I was six years ago. I’m not the reason heath costs are going up.”
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