2. Nothing. It's perfect.
Democrats ITT are very clearly not saying it's perfect because they want single payer garbage. Any clear independent mind knows this is a series of great ideas; better than single payer and better than our insurance system prior. The more I examine it the more I am convinced. I can't think of one bad thing about the Affordable Care Act.
can't think of one bad thing? Okay.
What's so good about the medical device tax?
What's so good about only having the exchange open for x amount of time and then closing it down for a while, rather than keeping it open year-round? (aside from maintenance downtime and the like, of course)
What's so good about forcing people who don't need maternity-related services to have them in their health plan anyways?
1. Several reasons--most medical devices are purchased by Medicare/Medicaid funds, the largest benefactor of universal insurance coverage will be medical devices, and medical device companies make most money on the margins of all the health industry. It is a fair trade. We give them more business and they give us a cut of the profit to pay for it. It's a great way to pay for this system without raising personal income taxes.
2. Several reasons. One, it's how private insurance companies prefer to work. I support private insurance. Two, it creates a sense of urgency for consumers to purchase. Three, it's easier for tax purposes--for both the filer and IRS. It would be an absolute nightmare to have a tax credit system built around healthcare where some people have 12 months of coverage because they bought in January and others have 5 months because they bought in July; or bought in February and cancelled in June and bought in September and cancelled in December.
3. That is insurance. You pay for services you may or may not need; and large diverse risk pools create better consumer value for you. There's also a very narrow-minded self-centered opinion whenever somebody brings it up. They only point out what they won't use that they have to pay for, not realizing others will be subsidizing things they will use but those others will not. You will have prostate exams in your life paid for by the women who will use the maternity care. You might develop a cancer that requires a treatment nobody else in your pool will use.
If we only put young middle class men in one pool, and pregnant women in another pool, and old poors in another pool, we would never be able to create insurance. The young men pool might have cheap premiums, but it would cover absolutely nothing. The old poors pool might everything they need, but it would be astronomically expensive. They might as well just flush the money down the toilet. Affordable insurance isn't simply
cheap, it has to be a
value--bang for a buck. Greatest bang for a buck is diversity driven.
Lost in the idea of 4 plans the cover every thing is that there are now just FOUR PLANS THAT COVER EVERYTHING. This is a huge development for the consumer. No more getting bamboozled by fine print--finding out that the insurance they bought for $15/month cheaper premiums doesn't cover injuries from getting hit by a car until after they got hit by a car. Insurance companies now actually have to drive down the premiums and deductibles by cost cutting in their institutions as opposed to simply stripping plans of benefits to make a pretty advertising price quote. This is real economic competition in healthcare we are about to see for the first time.
