What Insurance Reform Means for Louisiana

 What Insurance Reform Means For Louisiana

Organizing for America (OAF) wants you to know what health insurance reform really means for us, right here in Louisiana. Together with President Obama's administration, they created this video to put some real numbers in front of the promise that reform is right for Louisiana.

After decades of struggle and a year of debate, health reform is now law in America.

What does it mean for you? It means an end to the worst insurance company abuses, new rules that treat everyone fairly, and more choices and affordable health insurance for millions of Americans.

According to the video, the new health insurance reform law will:

• Provide 95,881 Louisianans (including me) with pre-existing conditions access to affordable health insurance options that were not previously available to them.
• Provide tax credits to 588,000 Louisianans.
• Provide tax cuts for 51,000 small businesses in Louisiana.
• Save nearly 7000 Louisiana families from bankruptcy due to medical debt in just one year.
• Will provide insurance to 894,000 Louisianans who previously had none.

Keep this information handy, because it will be pretty hard for insurance and pharmaceutical special interests to argue against these kinds of reforms for our (and every) state in the future.

Why Insurance Companies Are Different, And Why They Need To Be Regulated More Than Your Job

Much has been made of “insurance companies’ right to make a profit” and “treating them like everyone else” lately. What this attitude fails to take into account is the series of massive favors that we, as a society, do for the health insurance industry. See, we are allowed to add regulations and requirements because we have exempted health insurance companies from the Federal Anti-Trust Act (the act that prevents an industry from having a monopoly on the entire market). Let’s say that again.

We have exempted health insurance companies from the Federal Anti-Trust Act. The McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, 15 U.S.C. § 1011, allows state law to regulate the business of insurance without federal government interference, though it does allow the Federal Government to pass laws specifically aimed at the insurance industry. It just exempts them from non-insurance-specific Federal Laws. Including anti-trust laws.

This is important because it means that we have not required health insurers to have competition or behave in a competitive manner. As such, “the market,” which everyone screams will save us from the horrible health care companies, has no bearing. “The market” requires competition. So it’s kind of like if we stopped regulating prices on energy companies completely. How much do you think you’d be paying for electricity if there weren’t rules about that sort of thing? See, that’s a trade-off. We give Entergy, or SoCal Edison, or whoever, a monopoly in a certain area. We then regulate their prices and what they supply to be sure they don’t take advantage. But we haven’t been doing enough of that in the United States in the health insurance arena.

Some facts about the anti-competitive nature of health care in America in 2008, according to the United States Government Accountability Office:

• The median market share of the largest carrier in the small group market was about 47 percent, with a range from about 21 percent in Arizona to about 96 percent in Alabama. In 31 of the 39 states supplying market share information, the top carrier had a market share of a third or more.

• The five largest carriers in the small group market, when combined, represented three quarters or more of the market in 34 of the 39 states supplying this information, and they represented 90 percent or more in 23 of these states.

• Thirty-six of the 44 states supplying information on the top carrier identified a Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) carrier as the largest carrier, and in all but 1 of the remaining 8 states, a BCBS carrier was among the five largest carriers.

• The median market share of all the BCBS carriers in the 38 states supplying this information was about 51 percent, with a range of less than 5 percent in Vermont and Wisconsin and more than 90 percent in Alabama and North Dakota.

This is unacceptable. A lack of competition coupled with a lack of regulation means higher costs to consumers and skyrocketing profits for companies. Which helps explain why 17.6 percent of our GDP is spent on health care, and why the average family health care plan has increased from $6,654 per year to $13,378 per year in the last decade. That’s over double, for those of you counting.

Nationally, the average premium for health insurance rose five times as much as median worker wages in the last ten years.

If health insurance companies want an exemption, they will live with regulation. If not, the numbers above show that they would already be under court order to split up if it weren’t for anti-trust exemptions. We should stop letting them be ungrateful, gluttonous children and show them what life is like for the rest of the businesses in this country. It’s cutthroat, it’s tough to scrape out a living, and it involves needing actual business acumen and sense.

Or, they can simply jump on board with reform and regulation. It seems like that would be in all of our best interests.

Why We Should Support Reform NOW

Why We Should Support Reform...NOW!

There are many reasons that our readers might want to support the health care and insurance reform efforts currently going on in congress. Some might support the bill because they cannot currently access health insurance due to a pre-exisiting condition or excessive cost. Others might want to use the public option to receive more affordable prescription medications. Some might simply believe, as we do, that the American economy would be improved by providing an affordable public insurance option for small business owners, contract or part-time employees, and those who are self-employed.

But there is one good reason to support the health care reform option as it exists now...because the longer the debate is drawn out, the less benefits we are likely to see. More than a few people are legitimately undecided about health care reform. They believe that reform is necessary, but are unsure how to go about it. But the real concern we have is in regards to those in congress and business who go out of their way to reject virtually any form of health care reform. Senators like David Vitter, who receive the majority of their campaign contributions from insurance and pharmaceutical companies, are putting the very nature of health care improvement at risk. Because the longer the debate continues, the more concessions will have to be made to satisfy those squeaky political wheels who benefit from resisting reform.

It is our belief that nothing is more powerful in America than an idea whose time has come, and like it or not, subsidized health insurance is that idea today. Make no mistake, some form of health care reform will be enacted. It will be enacted because it is an idea that has been effectively, if not perfectly, put into action in every other industrialized nation in the world. It will be enacted because it has received in President Obama the champion it previously lacked. It will be enacted because people like us - you and me - know that reform is key to the political and social future of our nation. And, perhaps most importantly, it will be enacted because Americans who have lived the alternative - who have lost loved ones or whose own lives are at risk without a public option - will never, can never stop lobbying for it. For millions of us, it is literally a matter of life and death.

But just to enact some health reform is not enough. Reform must be effective. It must provide affordable alternatives to Americans who currently have none. It must raise our designation as an ethical democracy in the world forum. And the longer we wait to support reform, the more we will have to give up to make it a reality.

If you have not already done so, please read about President Obama's plan. As it currently stands, it contains measures that would improve not only the status of those who are currently uninsured, but would also guarantee continued coverage to those who currently have insurance. It would be paid for up front, primarily by taxes that have already been collected, and it would not add a dime to the federal budget deficit. It is that rare but beautiful creature - a public policy that is designed to truly solve a problem. But the longer we wait, the more we hesitate, the more this plan will be torn apart by critics who will demand concessions that will mean less coverage, more cost, and ultimately could put enough holes in this plan to make it as ineffective as they already swear it to be. And then, as we all know, the terrorists win.

Don't let that happen. In all seriousness, this is about YOUR right to affordable health insurance. Congress will not win this battle for us.... they already have guaranteed health insurance for the rest of their lives. We don't. We have only each other. That is why we must each, individually, make our demands known. And the sooner we do that, the more our reform will look like this:

The President's Plan for Health Reform “It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government." – PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
If You Have Health Insurance, the President's Plan: Ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. Limits premium discrimination based on gender and age. Prevents insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it most. Caps out-of-pocket expenses so people don’t go broke when they get sick. Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money. Protects Medicare for seniors. Eliminates the “donut-hole” gap in coverage for prescription drugs.	If You Don’t Have Insurance, the President's Plan: Creates a new insurance marketplace — the Exchange — that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices. Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance. Provides small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees. Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national “high risk” pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created.	For All Americans, the President's Plan: Won’t add a dime to the deficit and is paid for upfront. Requires additional cuts if savings are not realized. Implements a number of delivery system reforms that begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality. Creates an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. Orders immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine. Requires large employers to cover their employees and individuals who can afford it to buy insurance so everyone shares in the responsibility of reform.

Medical Debt #1 Cause of Bankruptcy In the U.S.

Are you concerned about the state of the U.S. economy? If you are, then consider the findings of a recent article in the American Journal of Medicine (among multiple other sources), which reports that medical debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S.

If you are like most Americans, you live one medical disaster away from poverty. What's worse, many of those who have unwillingly found themselves sunk in such debt had health insurance. The Washington Post points out that of those who were forced into bankruptcy by medical debt, nearly 80% had some health insurance coverage at the time of their illness, yet still reported an average medical debt of nearly $18,000. Meanwhile, Americans who did not have health insurance carried an average medical debt of over $26,000. What does all of this mean? As the health insurance system in the U.S. currently stands, you are more likely to fall to bankruptcy for medical debt than for any other reason - even IF you have health insurance!

Isn't it time we demanded more for our money?

Watch CBS News Videos Online

According to CBS News:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pointed out on The Early Show Friday that many Americans who have health insurance have inadequate protection, and increasing out-of-pocket expenses are "crushing families and businesses."

"That’s why President Obama is so focused on health reform this year," she said, "lowering costs for those who have coverage already so that we can keep the coverage we have, keep the doctors we have, but also to provide some coverage and some payment for the millions of Americans -- close to 50 million -- who have no insurance coverage at all."