FIXING THE GAME
Ideas from the insurance industry and its supporters
Fixed Rule:
The health insurance industry lobby - America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) - wants tax credits used to expand coverage. Tax credits are also a significant part of various plans offered by the Bush Administration, John McCain and other conservatives. The AHIP plan would give a health tax credit of up to $500 to low-income parents for getting insurance for their children.
What can you buy for $500? Not much — or maybe nothing!
According to AHIP's own research, the average annual cost of health insurance for a family of three in the individual insurance market in 2004 was $4,424, but could be as high as $14,403.
And here are some things a tax credit doesn't do:
- Put the lid on skyrocketing costs of coverage
- Stop insurance companies from rejecting you because of your medical history - even children can be rejected!
- Require insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions.
- Eliminate exorbitant deductibles and copayments - costs that often make insurance not worth the paper it's written on.
This is no solution! But it's a nifty idea for the industry: Add a few new (healthy) customers... and avoid real reform.
Fair Rule:
- A public alternative to insurance company coverage that is accountable to us.
- Fair regulation and oversight of insurance companies, with government as a watchdog.
Read more in the "Fixing the Game" Archive.
LATEST SCORECARD
Fifty-eight percent of primary care doctors in the U.S. report their patients often have difficulty paying for medications and care, and half of U.S. doctors spend substantial time dealing with restrictions insurance companies place on their patients’ care, according to the 2009 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey.
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Families saw their premiums for job-based health insurance rise to an average of $13,375 annually in 2009, with workers paying an average share of $3,515 and employers paying $9,860.
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