The first two parts of this series have looked at the private market for health insurance and the government programs. Medicare is essentially unchecked while Medicaid gets a whole lot stingier. The private market is allowed to exclude and underwrite in some circumstances while the federal government backs away from a lot of regulation. The …
Anderson On Health Insurance
Problems with high deductible health plans
From a loyal reader, I was pointed to this story down in Georgia concerning state employees getting a slightly better health insurance plan mid-year. I want to highlight the problem with the original health plan. This year has brought on an onslaught of changes, which included one form of insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia …
Problems with high deductible health plansPost + Comments (25)
Taking a Hatchet to healthcare (Pt. 2)
We talked about the private insurance market yesterday and how the PCARE proposal would change it compared to the baseline of Obamacare (as that is where we are today.) Today let’s review government programs that provide healthcare. Section 301 Capitation payments for Medicaid The most important thing about 301 is it is the implementation of …
Taking a Hatchet to healthcare (Pt. 1)
This will be a multi-parter on the P-Care proposal from Republicans. I’m busy today. Section 101: Repeal Obamacare Standard Republican boilerplate with a lie in the first sentence as healthcare costs as a proportion of GDP actually decreased last year. Section 201: Adopt Common-Sense Consumer Protections Reinstate the popular to the employed middle class parts …
Being broke is not being poor
Paul Krugman is reraising a common and key insight into poverty which is not well captured by federal poverty guidelines: By security, I mean that you have enough resources and backup that the ordinary emergencies of life won’t plunge you into the abyss. This means having decent health insurance, reasonably stable employment, and enough financial …
7 million will be reached
Some important news on Exchange enrollment from the Health and Human Services blog: Since the beginning of open enrollment, millions of Americans are gaining access to health coverage–many for the very first time—thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The most recent data indicates that approximately 3.0 million people have now enrolled in a private health insurance …
On Target
The big news in the healthcare world was that Target Corporation would stop offering health insurance to part time workers effective 4/1/14. Over the long run, this is good policy news. Here is the Minnesota Star Tribune: The Minneapolis-based retailer will give each worker $500 to help buy health insurance, and has arranged for one-on-one …