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Health Reform Won’t Reduce Health Insurance Costs

On the front page of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were two articles that really hit at the heart of health reform’s promise of covering everyone and reducing/controlling health insurance costs.

In the New York Times there was also a full page ad run by the American Medical Association urging Congress to pass emergency legislation to prevent their reimbursement rates from dropping. This happens every year as Congress does not have the will to actually implement cost saving measures it adopted years ago to control runaway Medicare expenses. I’m sure that Congress will come back from their Memorial Day break and pass this legislation; like they do every year.

So what makes anyone think that when the time comes to start cutting provider fees under health reform that Congress won’t pass emergency legislation every year to prevent those cuts from happening. I am pretty sure that it won’t, and the attacks on the Dartmouth Study are the initial campaigns by health care providers to make sure its not their fat cut from the meat to pay for health reform.

Karl Rove in his Op-Ed piece in the WSJ makes some pretty compelling arguments about other hidden costs, points out that the Congressional Budget Office has added another $120 Billion to the price tag of health reform and that Medicare’s chief actuary sees many places where the unintended consequences of health reform will cost us a lot more money. While slanted, its worth a read.

Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care MapWhen promoting the cost savings of health reform, the administration used the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care to show that there is up to $700B a year in potential savings by eliminating “waste” in the health care system. Today’s article in the New York Times makes a very compelling case that the potential savings are significantly less than advertised as “measures of the quality of care are not part of the formula”.

The study mainly shows the varying costs of care in Medicare by region. Everything about savings was an extremely loose extrapolation of the data as it was argued that care in Iowa and Minnesota is better and cheaper than care in New Jersey or Miami. In fact, this article points out that there is little evidence to support this notion.

Bottom line, the recently enacted Health Care Reform plan will cost our country significantly more than advertised and it is simply not possible to provide universal coverage without raising revenue (aka taxes) – on pretty much everyone.

If the legislation goes into effect, it will make our existing budget problems worse and it will lead to higher taxes eventually, and again, not just on people making more than $250,000.

Personally, I am not opposed to the concept that everyone should get health care, but in a democracy we need to have an honest conversation about how much that will cost and then decide if the majority of the people are willing to pay for universal coverage.

Posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance, Medicare.

Who Do You Trust for Health Insurance Quotes?

In an altruistic world, where service truly is the focus of the provider and especially those selling their services, you might expect the answer to the question, “Who can you trust?” to be anyone in the health care industry. Health insurance is there to provide services for people who are insuring the health, wealth, and happiness of themselves and their loved ones so that you would hope that the business offering the health insurance quotes would have your best interests at heart.

Unfortunately, carpet baggers and snake oil pushers are still prevalent in today’s society and its critical to avoid health insurance scam artists. While the cost and benefits of policies from well known and respected companies are highly regulated; there are companies selling everything from health plans with little to no insurance or plain old discount plans to consumers as full blown health insurance plans. Recently, the New York Times reported on companies using health reform to further defraud consumers.

Some web sites offer online health insurance quotes and preferred package opportunities that are only scams to collect your email address which they sell to as many spam lists as they can. Another down side of choosing health insurance quotes that appear low and seem highly affordable is the possibility that when you need coverage you find out that everything is so limited that you basically have no coverage.

So which health insurance quotes provider can you trust? Those from well established websites like Benepath who provide the best prices available, the same prices that you can get directly from the carriers themselves, and the ability to compare the top companies’ packages with HMO, PPO, and HSA quotes. Health Insurance websites like Benepath have lots of plans from top carriers to review and Benepath partners with local agents across the country to provide you with those quotes.

You can trust a company that encourages you to choose only the medical insurance quotes with the health services that you need, rather than an inflated package that expands either the practitioner’s or the carrier’s pocket by giving you unnecessary benefits and coverage. Sites that allow you to compare health insurance quotes from reputable carriers like Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross, and UnitedHealthcare who are financially strong and will be around to assist you in your hour of need are where you should invest your time.

Companies like Benepath work with local insurance agents and help you select the right health insurance quotes from the nations’ top carriers. Benepath gives you the ability to do online comparisons, they connect you with local agents with expertise who will help you choose the right plan, and then give you the opportunity to apply online and not wait any longer to get the coverage that your family deserves. Getting health insurance quotes takes only seconds online with no obligation and no hard sell follow up.

Posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.
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