When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.Obama keeps insisting that private insurance will not be imperiled by Obamacare, and then mocks those companies that complain, telling them they're "afraid of competition". Well, any competent business person would be afraid of a competitor that can undercut him by 30% and doesn't have to make a profit.
It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of “Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage,” the “Limitation On New Enrollment” section of the bill clearly states:
“Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day” of the year the legislation becomes law.
So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won’t be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
From the beginning, opponents of the public option plan have warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington’s coverage.
The nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated in April that 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in such a program. That would leave private carriers with 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause the market to, as Lewin Vice President John Sheils put it, “fizzle out altogether.”
What wasn’t known until now is that the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law.
The information above alone should be enough to kill Obamacare, but I'm sure the Dems will keep pushing.
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4 comments:
Yep, the "golden tongue" is still speaking forth with a forked tongue from Washington. He speaks only what he himself wants to hear and the hell with anyone else. It is to be his way or no way. He will use whatever is at his means to silence those who object to his plans, apparantly including outright blackmail. If Obamacare wins you can kiss off your private health care insurance plans, they will become a thing of the past. Finally, at last some of the truth about Obama Health Care is beginning to leak out, and hopefully, in time for both Democrat and Republican politicians to take note of and vote NO on this insipid plan from the White House.
Wait a minute...As I read the bill the only thing prohibited by this section is future enrollment or change in any policy that is defined as "grandfathered". Since the definition of such is that it was in place prior to the law being enacted, specifying what is, and is not, grandfathered in is understandable. (Yes, I'm reading the d@mn bill-slowly.)
2drezq
If the only thing being prohibited is a business's future business then you have put them out of business.
This is a misunderstanding.
Its only Grandfathered policies* that will no longer be sold. Insurance companies can and will develop and sell new policies to compete with each other in the exchange.
*These are policies that were legal before the new law comes into force but which will be illegal (IF SOLD) afterwards. These old style policies had caps, enforce bans or restrictions on pre-existing conditions, or have too high co-pays). These policies can continue in force but no new policies can be sold.
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