Health care reform holds great promise
On March 28, Americans saw health care reform legislation pass. It was long overdue. In Connecticut this past year, Anthem Blue Cross requested a rate increase of over 25 percent, illustrating how costs are skyrocketing for everyone.
As a practicing physician, I routinely see patients who end up in the hospital because they did not have access to affordable health care coverage or could not pay for their medication. While the new bill benefits this group and would ensure coverage for 40 million people without insurance, it also benefits those with insurance.
By expanding health care coverage to over 95 percent of Americans, it diversifies the risk pool. This will reduce our deficit by more than 138 billion over the next 10 years and will help small businesses provide insurance to their employees.
Some claim that the bill will cut Medicare but what they neglect to mention is that the majority of the cut refers to elimination of the higher, preferential government reimbursement rate for Medicare Advantage Plans (so called "private" Medicare), that is a monetary incentive to lure private insurance companies into the Medicare pool. Despite the higher reimbursement rate given to private Medicare at taxpayer expense, services among plans are essentially no different and private plans are not superior to the less costly non-private Medicare plans.
Other assets of the new bill include a prohibition on insurance companies who attempt to selectively exclude or increase premiums among high-risk patients who are typically less able to afford higher insurance costs. This high-risk group ends up in bankruptcy and we all pay for the uncovered medical costs through higher hospital rates, insurance premiums and government programs.
We should thank our state's representatives, including our own Rep. Jim Himes, who supported this legislation.
Kimberly Yonkers, M.D.
No comments:
Post a Comment