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

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.

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

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.