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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Katelew who wrote (51920)	3/5/2008 8:28:40 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 540795

They plan to try and reform the system by keeping the private insurance industry we have in place. Odd given that the insurance part is what gets most of the complaints in the current system.

To: Katelew who wrote (51920)	3/5/2008 8:31:37 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 540795

Me too. I'm not against them trying, but I favor single payer. "I'm curious to see what kind of savings they think they can extract from a system that uses our current profit-driven insurance industry."

To: Katelew who wrote (51920)	3/5/2008 8:36:01 PM
From: Travis_Bickle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 540795

It's a problem because when you mandate that a profit-driven industry must offer a non-profitable product, they tend to drag their feet and make you jump through a lot of hoops. Say you have a three-employee business and the state government requires that companies offer you a small group plan ... sounds good but the insurance companies do NOT want that business, they lose money on it ... so the law provides them with a loophole, you can only apply for the policy during the month of August ... but it is February and you need insurance coverage ... sorry out of luck. So you wait until August, apply and get coverage at $550 a month ... the insurance company REALLY wants you to drop the coverage, so two years later the cost is $1,900 a month, and you have no choice but to drop it and bonus the two other employees enough so hopefully they can buy individual plans. Without addressing the cost, requiring the companies to expand their offerings is a very short-term solution, might work for a year or two. I have had a lot of small business clients drop their group plans, it is just too big a hit.