{"id":133003,"date":"2017-03-09T10:10:25","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T17:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/09\/the-inherent-conflict-in-the-gop-health-insurance-plan.html"},"modified":"2017-03-09T10:10:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T17:10:25","slug":"the-inherent-conflict-in-the-gop-health-insurance-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/09\/the-inherent-conflict-in-the-gop-health-insurance-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"The inherent conflict in the GOP Health Insurance Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the article notes (a bit floridly), there is a fundamental conflict between GOP ideology<\/i> (the rich should not have their income taken away to support the poor; the poor should not be given money that might discourage them from trying to be not-poor) and GOP promises<\/i> about health insurance reform (better, cheaper, more flexible care for more people). <\/p>\n

Trying to pass a less affordable, cheaping-out version of the ACA as the AHCA is only going to (continue to) offend conservative ideology and<\/i> tick off people who thought the Republicans actually had a better idea.<\/p>\n

The other inherent conflict holds true not just for the AHCA but the ACA itself — trying to provide health care<\/i> via providing health insurance.<\/i> Insurance is a risk-based gamble that more money will come into the system than is paid out of it. That's why and how insurance companies work very hard and very diligently to make a profit.<\/i><\/p>\n

But sick people use more health care spending than they pay in — that's why they need in insurance. An insurance plan can only work if you get healthy, non-spending people into the system (before they suddenly discover that, hey, a critical illness or injury can happen to anyone, any time). <\/p>\n

The ACA tried to do this through mandatory coverage (though, hampered by very weak penalties, it didn't work, leading to increased premiums and companies leaving the system); the AHCA does this by charging a penalty surcharge for people buying insurance for the first time or after a break of more than 63 days (the surcharge, though, is not going to be seen as so high as to really compel people to stay in the system, except for the very poor who simply won't be able to afford it; it, too, will not work).<\/p>\n

Which brings me around to this point: making access to health care contingent on for-profit insurance pools simply doesn't work to cover everyone, or even adequately cover most. You must<\/i> force people to be in the system, or — put a bit more palatably — build the system around everyone being included (via taxes). <\/p>\n

That doesn't seem to be something the GOP is interested in doing, which means their attempt to live up to their promises, even as they bend their principles, is going to fail worse than the ACA ever did.<\/p>\n

(It's been suggested that this is the long game plan — break the system further, then, at some later date, throw up your hands and declare it all a socialistic mess and let's go back to poor people dying of illness in their slums, because that's the American Way. Would that work? Would that redound on the Republicans? We may get to see.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nRepublicans are now paying the price for a years-long campaign of Obamacare lies<\/a><\/span>
\nThey promised better insurance. They can’t deliver. Now the jig is up.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the article notes (a bit floridly), there is a fundamental conflict between GOP ideology (the rich should not have their income taken away to support the poor; the poor should not be given money that might discourage them from trying to be not-poor) and GOP promises about health insurance reform (better, cheaper, more flexible … Continue reading “The inherent conflict in the GOP Health Insurance Plan”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133151,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/24\/does-the-ahca-defeat-signal-that-the-health-insurance-debate-is-settled.html","url_meta":{"origin":133003,"position":0},"title":"Does the AHCA defeat signal that the Health Insurance debate is settled?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Mar-17 11:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Or, put another way, has the Overton Window[1] on public discourse around how health care is made accessible in this country solidly moved further to the \"left\" than it was a decade ago? While there are certainly hard-core folk in Congress who balk at the very idea of the federal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/obamacare-cartoon-2-a5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133804,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/05\/health-insurance-reform-fact-check-round-up.html","url_meta":{"origin":133003,"position":1},"title":"Health Insurance Reform Fact-Check Round-Up","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Jul-17 11:35am","format":false,"excerpt":"The WaPo and New York Times [1] offer some consolidated fact-checking against GOP Senate and White House arguments against the ACA and in favor of their New, Improved AHCA insurance reform plans (\"Now with 9% fewer people losing their insurance than the last version!\").From the NYT [https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/07\/03\/us\/politics\/misleading-republican-claims-health-care.html] on -- whether\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133646,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/10\/health-insurance-reform-behind-closed-doors.html","url_meta":{"origin":133003,"position":2},"title":"Health insurance reform behind closed doors","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Jun-17 1:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) rakes Orrin Hatch and Tom Price and the Senate GOP for their handling of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), and the lack of any public hearings over the bill they are planning on bringing to the Senate floor.' I heard you, Mr Secretary, just say,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132995,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/07\/morphing-the-aca-into-the-ahca.html","url_meta":{"origin":133003,"position":3},"title":"Morphing the ACA into the AHCA","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Mar-17 11:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because that's not at all intentionally confusing ...So reading some analysis of the proposed GOP health insurance plan has been a bit confusing, but a few points stand out:1. Mandates change to \"personal responsibility\" -- Which sounds fine and upstanding and all-American, but ends up inevitably breaking the system (again),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133408,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/06\/pre-aca-pre-existing-conditions.html","url_meta":{"origin":133003,"position":4},"title":"Pre-ACA Pre-Existing Conditions","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 6-May-17 9:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"The AHCA doesn't actually define (or limit) pre-existing conditions that states can opt out of. The list below was gleaned from lists of pre-existing conditions used before the ACA was passed to exclude folk from getting insurance, shuffling them into a (limited space, high-premium) high risk pool, jacking up premiums\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17%2B-%2B1imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17%2B-%2B1imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17%2B-%2B1imgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133395,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/03\/the-ahca-affects-not-just-individual-buyers-but-employee-health-plans-too.html","url_meta":{"origin":133003,"position":5},"title":"The AHCA affects not just individual buyers, but employee health plans, too","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-May-17 2:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking at the currently proposed state \"opt out\" provisions in the Republican health insurance reform, the Brookings Institution finds that it not only impacts individual insurance purchasers, but could have a significant impact on employer-provided health insurance as well, as employers and\/or health insurance companies seize on the \"least common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}