Lots of interesting bits and pieces in the Presidential Speech last night. Lots of things people wanted to hear like no more pre-existing conditions and no getting dropped from insurance plans if you have a serious medical condition.
I LIKE these statements.
But what do they mean?
Follow the logic…
No more pre-existing conditions and no getting dropped = more costs covered by your private insurance = higher premiums = more employer cost control by raising deductibles to keep their part of the premium down = more costs passed to the consumer.
It’s the way to legislate into a more consumer-directed solution.It’s an assbackward way of doing it, but it should work. Whether all of the parts of government healthcare reform work according to plan or not remains to be seen, but this is one piece that no doubt will DRIVE UP THE COST TO THE CONSUMER and force the issue of consumerism in the private healthcare market.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Robert, any idea on how the changes proposed by the president will effect change:healthcare? Or rather, what value does a company like change:healthcare bring to the market to support consumers?
Decreasing the ranks of the un-and-under-insured is an important issue, but there are significant cost-increases inherent in achieveing that goal. While I wholeheartedly believe that access to care needs to improve dramatically for the un-and-under-insured, such an increase is by default, an increase in demand. Simple economics shows that if you increase demand, and supply remains the same, prices (i.e. costs for everyone – employers and consumers) will go up. With prices going up and more of healthcare costs born by the patient/consumer, increasing access to care will also servce to force the issue of consumerism in the private healthcare market.