Health Care Reform From the House

Last Thursday the House of Representatives rolled out their Health Care Reform bill, with sweeping changes proposed for our health care system.

Obama praised it for including a public health care option, and being fully paid for.

This would be accomplished through 4 primary measures:

1. Offering subsidies to help the uninsured purchase insurance through newly created exchanges.
2. Requiring individuals to buy insurance and all but the smallest employers to offer health coverage to workers.
3. Taxing individuals making more than $500,000 and couples earning more than $1 million; this would bring in an estimated $460 billion over 10 years.
4. Expanding eligibility for the government's Medicaid health insurance program for the poor to people with incomes up to 150 percent of the official poverty level, which is cheaper than providing subsidies.

According to the Insurance Journal, debate could start as soon as this week, and the sides are splitting right down party lines.

A Flexible Health Insurance Option for Small Business

Going forward, and anticipating the future with Health Care Reform, many small businesses are looking for creative options to save money and yet offer good coverage for their employees.

Here is one such creative solution.

United Health has a new plan called Multi-Choice, and it has been getting positive press, such as this article in the Puget Sound Business Journal.

The company can purchase one of two packages, each of which has multiple benefit options. The employees can choose their coverage from a variety of copay and deductible levels. The employer contribution is a set amount for each employee; the employee contribution will vary depending on the plan that they chose.

New employees can come to the company and elect a plan that is similar to their old plan. The business can grow and change, and within this one package offer options to all of their employees.

This is a win-win for both companies and their workers. It provides predictable health care costs for the company, and choice of the amount of coverage to each and every worker.

Do You Have an Illness, or Does it Have You?

Do You Have an Illness, or Does it Have You?

After yesterday’s blog about health care reform needing to address bankruptcy caused by medical expenses, I wanted to make clearthat you have hope and you can be in control of your future. There is nothing inevitable about having a major illness send you to financial ruin.

Careful planning can cover these exposed gaps – and this is an example of where the “Living Benefits” solution I discussed in an earlier blog could prevent this ruin.

Then yesterday my dad sent me an article about Bill Trewin, a Canadian man with Parkinson’s disease. He had been running marathons before he was diagnosed with PD, and found that he was in danger of stumbling if he kept up his normal running.

Did he give up and go crawl in a hole? No, as Bill says in the article, “I have Parkinsons…it does not have me.”

He moved on to a different sport, Nordic walking, which allows him to get the same great exercise, but also gave him the stability of using poles while he walks. If you check out the Nordic walking site, you’ll learn how great this is for your bones, back, and posture, and can provide a workout of any intensity level.

It is important to find solutions with the help of a team or community. Working with others, often experts in the fields, we can have problems and not let them have us.

Most Bankruptcies caused by Medical Bills

Outrageous Stories

This is an amazing number, and hopefully will be one thing addressed by any health care reform: in America 62% of people who are declaring bankruptcy are having to do it because of their medical bills.

Are all of these people without health insurance?

No.

Fully 75% of them do have health insurance, but needed costly measures that weren’t covered in their policy.

This New York Times article tells of a computer security specialist who had to go to the hospital and found that most of his treatment was excluded by his insurance. He and his wife had to declare bankruptcy.

Or look at the case of a middle-class couple who had to declare bankruptcy after she had breast cancer and he had bypass surgery, on this CBS The Early Show with Harry Smith. Their health insurance only covered about 10% of the bills.

The first thing we need to do is read the fine print of our health insurance policies!

If they are not enough to cover a catastrophic accident or critical illness, we need some additional insurance to cover those catastrophes.