Saturday, March 29, 2008

Massachusetts health insurance law unconstitutional

Two legal expert opinions in the Los Angeles Times conclude that the law requiring residents of Massachusetts to have health insurance is probably unconstitutional. No constitutional challenge has yet been brought to the courts but, if challenged, this approach would likley be struck down. Karl Manheim, law professor at Loyola Law School and Jamie Court of the Consumer Watchdog explain the legal difference between required auto insurance, which is constitutionally legal, and required health insurance which is not.

Uninsured in New Mexico

In New Mexico, the rate of uninsured is about 21% of the state population; significantly higher than the national average. State officials believe that a majority of the uninsured qualify for a cost-subsidized insurance plan that may cost about $35 per person per month. State administrators presume that many people do not know that they are eligible for coverage. Most of those who do not qualify for the cost-subsidized program are eligible for a number of commercial health insurance plans that cost less than $200 per person per month. Some of the short term medical insurance plans are more appropriate for season workers and the supplemental insurance plans are more likely to encourage basic and preventative health care visits because they require no deductible or co-pay. MedSave.com hosts a listing of low cost health insurance plans available in New Mexico.

We have long believed that consumer education campaigns are the most cost-effective method of reducing the number of uninsured in the United States. In New Mexico, however, the issue may be complicated by language and cultural barriers, as well as the requirement to prove citizenship for the cost-subsidized plans. (Commercial health insurance does not require citizenship but is usually more expensive than the state plan).

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Americans Oppose Health Insurance Restrictions

Americans are calling for reforms in the health care system but increasingly want health insurance to be left as a free market system. In contrast, the largest portion of legislative initiatives throughout the country focuses on revising and restricting health insurance and leaves the rest of the health care system unchanged. Public opinion, at least judged by the trend of opinions posted on many news Web sites, shows increasing awareness of the distinction and intolerance of this political approach. The pattern of failures of legislative actions aimed at addressing health care costs - ranging from Health Savings Accounts to universal health insurance in Massachusetts – underscore the fact that addressing health insurance laws will not solve the health care crisis. Americans want to address the real underlying causes of high health care costs and want health insurance to remain an open market system with a range of individual choices.

A new survey called “2008 Health Care for America Survey” sponsored by the AFL-CIO of 260,000 mostly middle income respondents showed that one third of Americans skipped needed health care because of the high cost. The decision does not appear to be connected to whether or not they had health insurance. This is in contradiction to the primary arguments for universal health insurance.

This week’s U.S. News and World Reports (3/25/08) says “"There is a lot of data that suggests that those who do have private health-care coverage are very satisfied," said (the executive vice President of Americans Health Insurance Plans). One survey found that "87 percent of respondents with private insurance said their health-care coverage gives access to good medical care at an affordable cost".

This blog covers reports on many of the state reform proposals as reported by various media and we find that an increasing number of commentators are in tune with the theme “keep the government out of health care” and “let a market economy prevail in health insurance”. Writers in online forums are increasingly concerned that pending or proposed legislation may restrict access to low cost health insurance plans like short term medical insurance and supplemental limited benefit health insurance that are now available through cost-conscious consumer Web sites like MedSave.com.

One of the well-phrased comments in this theme was published today in The Cente Times newspaper quoting Keith Richardson, 46, of Clarion, Pennsylvania; pastor of the First Baptist Church of Clarion running for the 5th Congressional District. “We have to look to the root causes for increases in medical costs, such as lawsuit abuse and excessive governmental intervention. I’d seek reforms that curb lawsuit abuse, such as capping punitive damages in most cases, or making plaintiffs in frivolous suits responsible for costs. I’d oppose any attempts to nationalize health care insurance. Free-market, private- sector forces are key to efficient and competitive health care and insurance systems. More government involvement means higher costs, greater waste, lower efficiency and reduced quality of health care. Just ask anyone from Canada who gladly pays extra to get health care in the U.S.” Based on recent trends of published opinions on the topic of health care reform, we beleive Mr. Richardson's position now represents the general opinion of the majority of Americans.

Although we see a lack of confidence in the U.S. health care system overall, there is growing indication that Americans oppose the increased regulation of health insurance as a solution to the problem.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

health insurance help for college students

An article in the 3/23/08 Pittsburgh Post Gazette says that some students at one Pennsylvania community college are staying in school just for the health insurance and not really pursuing an education. Since Pennsylvania has most affordable health insurance options than almost any other state, wouldn’t it make sense for the school to promote the use of free services like OnlineAdviser at MedSave.com that specializes in matching people up with the best health low cost insurance plan?

Student health insurance costs from $600 a year for a healthy student on a popular short term plan like American Health Shield to about $3,000 per year for a person on a group plan. There are cost-subsidized plans for low income applicant that cost even less. Most healthy Pennsylvania college students simply enroll in least expensive major medical plan they can find like those listed at www.short-term-medical-insurance.com on a semester-to-semester basis but there are a wider range of choices for students with special insurance needs. But even in the worst case, that’s more than the cost of tuition for a student who isn’t really interested in the course of study.

Additional resources for students:
Student Health Insurance Tips
Health Insurance Options for Graduating Students
MedSave.com Expands Support for Graduating Students
See more at http://www.medsave.com/articles.htm

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Massachusetts wrestles with underfunded health plan

Massachusetts is now kicking some members out of the state health insurance pool citing the costs were “significantly more” than expected. People enrolled in the health plan pay only part of the cost and the rest is paid by the state. Participants contribution varies according to income. Both the state’s cost and the enrollees premiums are expected to rise more than 10% this year. Those removed from the price-subsidized state plan will be required to purchase commercial medical insurance. Few of the least expensive commercial health insurance plans are available in Massachusetts according to MedSave.com, a national leader in affordable health insurance.

The situation will only get worse since the plan does not have adequate protections against over-utilization. In time, health care inflation in Massachusetts will likely exceed national averages. New Jersey, California and other states looking to enact universal health care – note that Massachusetts-style is not the way to do it.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/21/state_health_plan_underfunded/

Friday, March 21, 2008

Wall Street feels the effect of insurance laws

Another wave of Wall Street workers will be looking for new jobs in the wake of the Bear Sterns takeover this week. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bear Stern employees expect further downsizing in coming months. J.P. Morgan Chase expects to layoff additional employees this week after releasing about 6% of its work in November 2007. Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Citicorp have also recently released employees. Despite the high income stereotype of Wall Street, not all of these people can afford a layoff. Many of these workers live paycheck to paycheck, just as in other industries. Our article “Surviving a Layoff” with practical tips on basic financial planning during a job change is accessed as often by Wall Street area workers as in any other part of the country.

In addition to the challenge of making ends meet without a paycheck, these employees now face the added cost of paying for their own health benefits until they land another position with employer-paid health care. These employees have the choice of keeping their existing health plan through COBRA or enrolling in alternate coverage.

Most of the lower paid Wall Street workers living in New York State or New Jersey will find few affordable health insurance alternatives due to restrictive insurance laws in those states. The simple and inexpensive type of short term medical insurance used to fill gaps between jobs is not available in either New York or New Jersey. COBRA coverage and similar alternatives are expensive – more than $1,200 per month for any type of family coverage. Those who opt to go without any coverage may compound the problem by triggering a little-known provision in federal law that requires them to satisfy a new six month waiting period even after their new employer-provider health insurance is in effect.

A smaller number of Wall Street executives commute to the city from distant suburbs. Residents of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania will have it easier during their layoff. Not only will these workers get a temporary reprieve from the daily commute to Manhattan, they will also find that there home state of residence makes a wide range of temporary health insurance options available at a fraction of the price paid by their NJ and NY neighbors. Web sites like MedSave.com list high quality short term major medical plans on a state by state basis. The cost is under $400 per month for family coverage in most parts of the country – a manageable issue for most households.

The difference in the cost of health insurance - $400 vs. $1,200 – means a whole lot more when you are out of work and trying to make ends meet until the next secure job comes along. We believe that is past time to tell the legislatures in New York and New Jersey that their residents need the same options as their neighbors in surrounding states.

Utah health insurance reform

MedSave.com supports these health care reform bills that were signed by the Utah’s governor this week:
* HB47 authorizes the Utah Department of Health to adopt standards for the electronic exchange of medical records.
* HB326 allocates almost $5 million over two years to ensure Utah's Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will cover all eligible children who apply. In the past, kids have been turned away because of lack of money.
* HB364 requires state departments of Education, Health and Workforce Services to promote enrollment in CHIP, Medicaid and another state program that subsidizes private insurance.
* HB301 requires the insurance industry to cover more people who were previously considered uninsurable.

The currently available and affordable short term medical insurance plans will continue to be available, as well as expended eligibility for the more expensive universal health insurance plans.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

PA health insurance reform

A message to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell: Making more cheap health insurance at taxpayer expense is not the answer.

Over half of the uninsured in Pennsylvania are between the ages of 24 and 35, are generally healthy and come from middle income households. They will be uninsured for less than a year, on average, and will find coverage without government help, thank you very much. If they really wanted health insurance coverage, they could find it at a price of their morning lattes at Starbucks. MedSave.com, a leader in low cost health insurance nationwide, lists more than a dozen high quality health insurance plans priced well under $200 per month in Pennsylvania for this age group. The Kaiser Foundation, the U.S. Census reports, GAO publications and private insurance industry studies consistently show that availability and affordability are not primary obstacles to coverage in Pennsylvania.

Take a clue from the state’s CHIP program to see that increasing public funding does not result in a proportional increase in the number of people covered. The state’s needy already have adequate coverage through your welfare programs and those with chronic medical conditions need your help with managing the high out-of-pocket cost of their care, not with finding health insurance.

If you really want to increase the number of insured Pennsylvanians to satisfy your powerful health care industry backers (although we are not convinced this is even a worthwhile goal), then simply require residents to show proof of coverage of health insurance coverage in order to gain employment or qualify for any type of government program or to receive a tax refund. You would accomplish a whole lot more for a lot less public expense.

Monday, March 17, 2008

NJ introduces harmful health insurance proposal

New Jersey’s legislature is considering pulling the trigger again. Individual residents will be the repeat victims. More than a decade ago the lawmakers took an ill-advised law that dictated the coverage to be included in all New Jersey health insurance policies. In effect, this consumers options to about six choices, generically labeled, “Plan A”, “Plan B”, “Plan C”, “Plan, D”, “Plan E” and “HMO”. More recently Health Savings Account options were made available. The intent was to simplify the selection process for New Jersey residents who were not smart enough to make intelligent decisions when buying their own health insurance. The legislative initiative was a disaster.

In the years since this restrictive legislation was passed, New Jersey soared to the highest health insurance prices in the nation. Most insurance companies withdrew from the market and those few that remained do not even advertise their products or employ agents to sell them. The number of uninsured in New Jersey is among the highest in the nation, despite the state’s relatively affluent population. The uninsured are typically middle income who could easily afford health insurance in most other states.

Many New Jersey residents hoped that lawmakers had learned a lesson and would refrain from further radical attempts to regulate the market. But apparently the legislature is poised to pass additional restrictive legislation that would require every New Jersey resident to buy health insurance. Despite strong adverse public opinion and the lack of success in other states hat have tried similar measures, the law is promoted by powerful health care industry and big business lobbyists. The health care industry would benefit from expanded insurance as an additional source of funding. Employers would benefit because the pressure to provide group coverage would be reduced.

The bill will be revealed today – Saint Patrick’s Day, according to an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer. It appears that the luck of the Irish may fade for New Jersey residents.

States with free market health insurance approach have more affordable health insurance choices in 2008 than ever before according to MedSave.com, a company that specializes in low cost health insurance. None of these affordable health insurance plans are available to New Jersey residents. Many New Jersey residents feel that they should have the right to buy the affordable health insurance plans that are available to their neighbors in Pennsylvania and Delaware. New Jersey residents are encouraged to tell their legislators that the real answer is to avoid this drastic new legislation, remove the excess market restrictions and return to a free market system used in most other states.

It simply makes no sense to require New Jersey residents to buy health insurance while at the same time denying them the option of purchasing the most popular insurance plans at rates that are comparable to those available in the rest of the nation.

Spring Break Travel Requires Medical Insurance

College students are not the only ones who get to enjoy spring break. March and April have become popular travel times for families across the country and adults who need a break from the long northern winters. The weather is mild and prices are low in some of the most popular destinations. International travel has become increasingly popular this time of year as prices for worldwide hotspots can be more competitive than some U.S. destinations.

Regardless of whether your destination is in one of the states or overseas, it makes sense to spend a few minutes to become familiar with the travel insurance options that are available for only a few dollars a day. If your trip is sponsored by an organization, then proof of medical insurance is often required before departure. Many people do not realize that their regular health insurance provides inadequate coverage while hey are travelling.

For short trips outside the U.S. Liaison International is the best choice. You can add complete trip insurance including lost luggage protection with Round Trip insurance. Coverage can be issued immediately for as short as five days. The cost for a short trip is typically under $20 per person.

For trips within the U.S. any of the reputable short term medical insurance plans listed at short-term-medical-insurance.com or MedSave.com will provide immediate emergency coverage while you are travelling. Unlike other insurance plans, these policies provide the same coverage throughout the United States, with any doctor or hospital and do not require the use of a network provider.

Another approach is to add supplemental coverage like 24 Hour Accident insurance from Value Benefits. This overlaps the primary health insurance and provides additional cash to cover expenses incurred in the event of an unforeseen medical problem. This coverage applies at home as well as while travelling.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Group Insurance Myth Exposed

The myth of the price efficiency of group health insurance persists despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Another major news agency published an article that said purchasing health insurance “in bulk”, through employers or small business associations, would certainly save us money. Past presidential candidates have even cited the potential savings of group health insurance pools in their campaign platforms to control health care costs. The Bush administration previously supported this approach during the past presidential election but backed off after they learned that the market facts do not support this conclusion. Some organizations continue to push for group insurance pools for political reasons without supportive economic data. The Des Moines Register reported this week at http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080315/NEWS/803150335/-1/NEWS04 that some politicians contnue to support an program that allows small businesses to purchase group health insurance through larger associations despite more than a year of evidence tht few employers see value in such an approach. Making more of this inefficient type of health isnurance available is simply not the answer.

The Kaiser Foundation, a leading source or research data on health insurance plans, reports that employers spend an average of $380 per month for single employee coverage and more than $1000 per month for family coverage.

How many individuals who purchase their own health insurance pay more than $1000 per month for family coverage? If you buy your own health insurance, how much doe your coverage cost in comparison to the published cost of group health coverage? Very few people - probably less than 5%, according to several health insurance industry sources – pay more than the amounts published by Kaiser for their individual health insurance. In fact, the average price of health insurance purchased by self-employed people and other individual customers is less than half of the cost of the insurance cited by employers.

How to individual buyers achieve such great savings that large employers cannot accomplish? A close look at fundamental economics provides the answer.

First, individual insurance is not subject to “mandated benefits” included in group health insurance. This means that individual buyers can customize the insurance for their specific needs. A 50 year old couple, for example might be able to trim $200 per month from their health insurance premium because they no longer need to purchase coverage to cover maternity expenses. On the flip side, a younger person may find insurance that is age-rated to reflect the lower medical risks of their age group. By customizing the coverage to their specific needs, individual buyers achieve lower pricing than is available to group insurance buyers. Mandated benefits that may be important to include in coverage for “the masses” may not apply to individual buyers.

Second, individuals have proven to be more resourceful shoppers. Web sites like MedSave.com specialize in low cost health insurance. One of the primary methods is to simply purchase insurance that expires after a period of time – usually 6 to 36 months. This short term medical insurance is priced at 25% to 40% less than equivalent coverage that has longer renewability provisions. Individual buyers know that they will re-shop health insurance every year and that there is a high probability that long term guarantees are not needed because they change insurance plans more frequently.

Third, there is a wider range of coverage amounts and premium pricing available to individuals. In the past, all health insurance policies provided about the same amounts of maximum potential benefits. Now with the expansion of limited benefit health insurance policies, maximum coverage is available, for example in amounts from $50,000 to $5,000,000. Other policies offer the option of limiting the amount of specific coverage. For example, some low cost policies provide a benefit of $75 for a doctor’s office visit or $1000 per day for hospital coverage. This may not cover the entire amount of the medical cost, but it certainly makes the insurance much more affordable. The trade off means that more low priced insurance options are available to the individual buyers can select a plan that fits their budget.

Fourth, the individual health insurance markets have largely embraced the Internet to make pricing immediately available to everyone. Group health insurance, in contrast, is still priced by manual efforts of human underwriters. It is very difficult or sometimes impossible to compare pricing data across a large number of insurance carriers. The pricing of group health insurance – and therefore the market itself - is simply less efficient than the individual insurance market.

Finally, group insurance is required to cover everyone, regardless of health problem. Individual health insurance is designed for specific risk classes. Most people qualify for preferred risk classes. Those with serious ongoing medical problems are typically routed to state high risk pools where the costs are subsidized with public finds. These high risk plans emphasize managed care approach for known medical conditions rather than insurance for unknown medical costs. Again, the net result is that the overall price is lower for the majority of buyers and the only risk of the few who face higher risks are spread among a larger market.

The net result is that individuals have proved to be more efficient shoppers of their own health insurance than their employers and their state legislators. The basic economic principle that market efficiency increases as market restrictions decrease proves to be valid once again. Most individuals can purchase high quality health insurance for about $200 per month and family coverage is still available for under $500 per month.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Amigo Medical Relaunched

HCC Life HealthCare Options, a division of HCC Life Insurance Company, announced the availability of a new short term medical insurance product designed for individuals in need of health insurance for up to 12 months. Called Amigo Medical, the product is available in both English and Spanish. Professional service is provided in English and Spanish by representatives at the World Service Center, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Underwritten by HCC Life Insurance Company, rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, Amigo Medical is currently available in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming. Additional states will be added throughout the year.

Amigo Medical may be purchased through licensed health insurance professionals and online at MedSave.com.

Amigo Medical offers a solution for individuals transitioning between jobs, new employees in eligibility waiting periods for group benefits, recent college graduates or students no longer eligible for coverage on their parents' plans. It is also an option for the unemployed, self-employed, individuals seeking an affordable alternative to COBRA, and those who are awaiting Medicare eligibility.

"As a company, we saw a growing need for a product like Amigo Medical," said Betsy Brougher, Vice President of HCC Life HealthCare Options. "There are still too many people living in the United States without some type of health insurance. And we are proud to be one of the very few companies to take a proactive position in recognizing the need to offer products in a language accommodating to the millions of Spanish-speaking people living in the United States."

For information about HCC Life HealthCare Options and the Amigo Short Term Medical Plan, please visit MedSave.com.

About HCC Life:
For more than 30 years, HCC Life Insurance Company has been an industry leader in medical stop loss and excess lines coverage. HCC Life, an Indiana domiciled insurer, has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Indianapolis & Minneapolis and writes over $750 million dollars in premium annually. HCC Life Insurance Company is rated an A+ (Superior) for financial strength by A.M. Best Company ratings services. All HCC Life products are backed by the financial stability of our parent company, HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HCC).

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

health insurance after a layoff

One of the primary uses of short term medical insurance is to provide affordable coverage for people laid off from their jobs while they transition to new employment. The economic issues were recently covered in Washigton’s Medill Report http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=82463. The article concludes by saying that resourceful people find other sources of affordable coverage but does not name short term medical insurance as the choice of most people in this situation.

A consumer friendly report titled “Surviving a Layoff” was recently updated at MedSave.com to help people make smarter decisions about benefits when changing careers.

health insurance rates decrease for healthy applicants

Two commercial health insurance carriers, Golden Rule and Celtic Insurance, announced rate decreases in some markets effective April 2008 and one carrier International Medical Group announced that it will keep rates set in early 2006 through September 2008 on its international medical insurance. These announcements posted on the News page at www.MedSave.com came amid an overall trend of medical cost inflation. So why do these insurance plans buck the price trend? We only know that rates are set based on past and projected claims in accordance with each state’s insurance laws and we can presume that these insurers had lower than expected claims in specific geographical markets and among certain age groups.

All of these plans are medically underwritten, meaning that that only healthy people are admitted. These types of plans are under fire as public sentiment moves toward universal coverage but there is no doubt that underwritten plans are a good deal for the people who qualify for them. Proponents of these plans say that the lower rates for healthy and “preferred risk” applicant promotes healthy lifestyles since about 80 percent of our nation’s health care costs are directly attributable to basic manageable lifestyle choices like smoking, over-eating, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and stress reaction.

For now, most states allow the health insurance rates for healthy applicants to be substantially lower than for those with medical problems and so it makes sense for consumers to shop for an insurance plan with restictive eligiblity requirements.

The eligibility requirements for each short term medical insurance vary at www.short-term-medical-insurance.com are listed on the application page and so it makes sense to compare prices and requirements for a few different plans.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Shame on Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Michigan

Michigan residents should be outraged at the conduct of Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Michigan that pulled out every political stop to push new laws known as P.A. 141 through the legislative process. The bill would increase profits to Blue Cross / Blue Shield, a tax exempt company, and eliminate some of the lowest cost health plans now available in the state, including many of the plans listed at www.short-term-medical-insurance.com .

The law is opposed by the Michigan Attorney General’s office, AARP Michigan, the Consumers Union, the Area Agencies on Aging, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the United Auto Workers, and many newspapers across the state. Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Michigan countered with a massively expensive media campaign to sway public opinion on the issue. See http://www.putmipeoplefirst.com for more information on the growing public opposition to this bill.

This incident is the latest in a series of actions by Blue Cross / Blue Shield member companies across the country taking moves that are clearly not in the public interest, but benefit only the corporate interest of the Blue Cross / Blue Shield health insurance companies

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Americans are Uncommitted on Uninversal Coverage

A recent poll conducted by National Public Radio, Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health found that Americans are divided as to whether we should require the 1 in 6 uninsured Americans to buy health insurance. The results of the poll were reported in “Morning Edition” 2/29/08.

While 93 percent of those polled said the issue of uninsured is “serious”, there is less agreement on the approach to take to tackle the problem. About half of Americans support the idea of using government subsidies to get coverage for the uninsured.

Opponents say the proposal is similar to attempting to solve the issue of homelessness by requiring everyone to buy a house.

Bottom line is that while we like the fuzzy warm concept of “universal health coverage”, over 30 million Americans without health insurance coverage are unwilling to spend even $100 per month of their own money to buy basic health insurance even when offered to them and less than half of us think that the government should help with that cost.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Indiana's candidate confused on health care economics

The myth that it is cheaper to buy health insurance in pools continues despite years of evidence to the contrary. This quote from a newspaper in Indiana talks about a candidate Jill Long Thompson's views on the topic:

"Transforming healthcare policy in Indiana by changing state law to encourage businesses and individuals to pool to buy health insurance, vastly reducing its costs for individuals and smaller sized businesses. This proposal would expand coverage for uninsured or underinsured Hoosiers. It would also positively impact business by reducing overall costs - not only by lowering prices by "bulk purchasing" health insurance, but also by reducing the number of uninsured in Indiana."

There is absolutlely no evidence that in Indiana or in any state that allowing individuals to buy group insurance increases the number of insured or lowers costs. In fact it is clear that group insurance is significantly more expensive that individual insurance in Indiana and in most other states. "Bulk purchasing" savings are only a political myth.

Virtually every cost saving initiative with national programs like MedSave.com or here at www.short-term-medical-insurance.com are based on individual health insurance initiatives, not group or association policies.

Another part of the same article talks about how the current governor's inaction on poor academic performance is unforgivable. We suggest that Jill Long Thompson's lack of knowledge on this basic health economic principle is equally unforgivable.

presidential candidates' updated position on health care

The Nation Review does a great job summing up the three candidate positions on health care reform at http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTQzOGMwN2I1Zjc1ZjM1OWZiNTQxMzM2NTIxYjZmNzk=

Clearly McCain's position is do-able and would help. But is it enough?

Clinton's position is politically unrealistic and there is no reason to beleive that her results would be different than when she tried under Bill's presidency. Where are the indications that she learned from that failed attempt?

Obama does not seem to have a real grasp of the economic issues here. We have to conclude it is just political rhetoric. Even his own support groups are concluding that if he becomes president, health care reform :just won't happen". See discussion of the New York Times article from February 4 at a university-based newspaper at http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/03/03/Opinion/Lets-Talk.Universally-3247336.shtml.

Meanwhile, commercial health insurance enroller MedSave.com is launching a publicity campaign to promote the fact that universal health insurance is here now, available and affordable to most Americans. Plans like those at short-term-medical-insurance.com could solve many problems if they were simply prromoted more efficiently. Yet we have no public or private economic incentives to promote low cost limited benefit solutions. We simply need to get the politicians out of the way to acheive widespead coverage. We know that 100% coverage is not doable under any real life circumstances but we also know that big improvements can be made without big cost or major political action.

Physicians praise simple insurance coverage

We applaud American Medical News for reporting that transparency in health care is "hot" while proposed reform mandates are dead on arriaval. Full disclosure of facts, and not the push for more legislation, will be the effective medicine for improving our health care system.

Physicians want their patients to have simple easy to undersand health insurance coverage.
"There has been a lack of clarity about health plans' co-payments, deductibles, coverage, physician networks and other issues, so physicians backed measures to reduce this confusion, said Susan Strate, MD, immediate past chair of the TMA council on socioeconomics and a surgical pathologist in Wichita Falls, Texas". Short term medical insurance (STM) avoids these pitfalls by providing clear simple universal coverage with any medical provider in the U.S. STM is generally considered to be simple and generally problem-free because it avoids these entanglements.

UA student praises merits of individual health insurance

University of Alabama senior Stephen Spiehler joins the cause to spread the word that individual health insurance is both available and affordable to most Americans. Short-term-medical-insurance.com has been committed to this cause since our inception and we share the vision of the future put forth by Spiehler when individual health insurance policies will be the norm for the majority of Americans. Currently, over 98% of individual insurance policies last only a short period of time before the individual selects other coverage. A typical policy lasts les than two years. Short term medical insurance policy can currently last up to three years in most states but these limited term policies are less expensive than continuously renewable coverage. See more at http://media.www.cw.ua.edu/media/storage/paper959/news/2008/03/03/Infocus/Ua.Senior.Examines.Insurance.Market-3246600.shtml

Sunday, March 2, 2008

health insurance cost inflation

Health care costs are predicted to double in the next decade, to almost a third of our gross national product, according to government estimates issued last week. These forecasts are made with or without national health care reform. Political changes are not likely to significantly affect this trend.

This means that a short term medical insurance policy that costs $100 now will cost $200 per month by 2017. An average person's wages will not double over the same period, so health care and health insurance will become slightly less affordable over the next decade.