INSURANCE RE-REGULATION PASSES SENATE
Hat's off to Harry Reid, who has spent seven months or so herding cats for the President... In the end, the bill vote was 60-40, with two major jumps left to go.
The Dorgin amendment, for importation for prescription drugs, somehow was controversial, flamed out 51-48.
SOME OF THE GORY DETAILS
Large and small, the nanny corporation remains intact, as real change is too much, apparently. Still, CBO estimates that companies will dump 8-9 million into the (subsidized) 'exchange market'.
Insurance companies can continue to use the non-group market to subsidize their prized clients in the group market (i.e. no public option or similar competition). Their medical loss ratio is "limited" to a staggering 20%, however. [The Swiss, by comparison, say that 'basic insurance' is to be provided at cost by the private sector, i.e near 0%...]
The government will mandate purchase of private, for-profit insurance, on penalty of the tax authorities, creating a potential sore-point with voters. The CBO gleefully projects $2 billion periodically in penalties to be collected from voters...
The government will subsidize the purchase of private, for-profit insurance, creating a strange set of individual incentives, compared to a single-payer model, given that typical healthcare expense is not cost irrelevant
A lot of non-binding cost recommendations could flow from a bucket of money spent to study stuff. A lot. Non-binding. Bucket of money.
Turns out that annual caps may not be that pricey to eliminate. If so, one can hardly understand why eliminating these wasn't done years ago. Unless those estimates are bunk and the growth in expensive, degenerative diseases is paramount.
I have no idea how much getting rid of pre-existing conditions will cost, in terms of average premium increases. (And I'm not going to keep looking in the CBO's work ...).
Rural areas will get direct healthcare investments. The government will take a hand at bolstering the workforce for health-service professionals... This, even while the main thrust of the bill is to adore the 'private sector'.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Snow, Collins, Gregg, Grassley - All vote 'No'
