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Joie 
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Joined: 23 April 2008
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 Topic: McCains Healh Plan Would Boost High Risk Pools
Posted: 02 June 2008 at 1:57pm |
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
McCain's Free-Market Health Plan
Would Boost Role of High-Risk Pools
By LAURA MECKLER and ANNA WILDE MATHEWS
June 2, 2008; Page A6
John McCain's plan for a health-care system built around consumers shopping for their own insurance comes with a significant downside: for people with a history of illness, it can be impossible to find coverage on their own.
The Republican presidential candidate's main answer is to bolster the role of high-risk pools, which sell insurance to people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, cancer and AIDS.
These pools, typically created by state governments, require significant government subsidies, charge high premiums and sometimes sharply restrict benefits or enrollment. Nationally, fewer than 200,000 people are enrolled in such pools, while 47 million people in the U.S. are without insurance.
"They tend not to work particularly well," said Sara Collins, an assistant vice president at the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health-care-research group. "States have really struggled to finance these adequately."
For rest of article see:
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Joie
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Posted: 02 June 2008 at 6:05pm |
Hmmm, this is no longer available for free viewing on the Wall Street Journal, so here's an article on the same subject from the Kaisernetwork.org site:
Election 2008 | Wall Street Journal Examines High-Risk Insurance Pools Proposed by Presumptive Republican Nominee McCain
[Jun 02, 2008]
The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined a proposal from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to "bolster the role of high-risk pools" that market health insurance to individuals with pre-existing medical conditions.
The proposal would replace a tax break for employees who receive health insurance from employers with a refundable tax credit of as much as $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families for the purchase of private coverage. In addition, the proposal would include a federally funded Guaranteed Access Plan, which would seek to establish high-risk health insurance pools to help individuals who cannot obtain private coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions or no previous group coverage.
"McCain derides government-run health care, but the high-risk pools in existence now require a heavy dose of government intervention," the Journal reports. According to the Journal, fewer than 200,000 U.S. residents currently are enrolled in high-risk health insurance pools, which charge "high premiums and sometimes sharply restrict benefits." In 2006, premiums provided 61% of the funds for high-risk health insurance pools, with most of the remainder of the funds -- about $722 million, or an average of $3,800 per enrollee -- provided by state governments.
McCain chief policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said that, under the McCain proposal, the federal government might have to provide $7 billion to $10 billion to fund high-risk health insurance pools. However, experts maintain that the estimate is "nowhere near enough, particularly given the large number of people with pre-existing conditions who would need this help if employers send their workers out to the open market," the Journal reports.
"There's no way you can ever charge a premium that's going to pay the cost of this population," Douglas Stratton, chair of the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans, said. Sara Collins, a Commonwealth Fund assistant vice president, said of high-risk health insurance pools, "They tend not to work particularly well," adding, "States have really struggled to finance these adequately" (Meckler/Wilde Mathews, Wall Street Journal, 6/2).
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DONN
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Posted: 02 June 2008 at 6:44pm |
YOU TELLING ME THE DEMOCRATS WILL HAVE A HEALTH PLAN THAT WILL TREAT THOSE WITH PRE EXISTING CONDITIONS THE SAME AS THOSE WITHOUT?????
GO EASY ON YOUR MEDS!!!!! LOL
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Joie
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Posted: 02 June 2008 at 7:10pm |
I'm not telling you anything -- the conservative Wall Street Journal is telling you McCain's health proposal's shift to individual plans would boost the role of high risk pools.
"McCain derides government-run health care, but the high-risk pools in existence now require a heavy dose of government intervention," the Journal reports.
McCain chief policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said that, under the McCain proposal, the federal government might have to provide $7 billion to $10 billion to fund high-risk health insurance pools. However, experts maintain that the estimate is "nowhere near enough, particularly given the large number of people with pre-existing conditions who would need this help if employers send their workers out to the open market," the Journal reports.
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DONN
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Posted: 02 June 2008 at 7:49pm |
VOTE FOR BARAK OSAMA OBAMA AND WHAT YOU,RE WAILING ABOUT WONT HAPPEN.
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JasmineRain
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Joined: 07 August 2007
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Posted: 02 June 2008 at 7:52pm |
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what's with the Osama comment?
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RA, meds, Coke
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mab52
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Joined: 08 March 2008
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Posted: 02 June 2008 at 9:10pm |
Probably the same reason Ted Kennedy used it. 
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O Lord my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me.
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babs10
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Posted: 03 June 2008 at 6:26am |
Originally posted by DONN
VOTE FOR BARAK OSAMA OBAMA AND WHAT YOU,RE WAILING ABOUT WONT HAPPEN. |
we don't have to vote Obama to prevent this plan going into effect..
if you remember how this country is run.. the president's power is not what you may think.. he has to have all of Congress vote majority for the implementation of his "plan"
ergo... status quo!!
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Character is so largely affected by association, that we cannot afford to be indifferent as to who or what our friends are
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Hillhoney
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Posted: 03 June 2008 at 6:50am |
Why did you need to turn the thread into a personal attack on Obama? I didn't see his name anywhere in the article that was posted for discussion.
This issue is a serious concern for my husband and I, as my husband is self-employed and we are unable to purchase affordable health insurance on our own. Companies such as Anthem or Aetna who sell individual policies simply won't insure us, as we have pre-existing conditions. The option offered is to purchase high risk insurance through the state, but the cost is outrageous. That is a whole segment of the population that is unable to be insured, and yet another reason small business are closing in record numbers. The laws are established to benefit large corporations, not small businesses.
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Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave intending to arrive safely in an attractive well preserved body; instead skid in sideways, body all worn out, screaming "WOO HOO!, What a ride!
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babs10
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Posted: 03 June 2008 at 6:59am |
If you're refering to me, Hillhoney, i wasn't attacking Obama... Just explaining that whomever is president doesn't necessarily get his policies and programs administered.. he has to have the backing of the congress .. or things remain the same: status quo
the medical insurance issues have long been an agenda of the president/politicians... I wish there was a good plan to implement, but they each "forget" about some aspect and the relationship to the patients and bill payers..
I am sorry you're having the insurance issue.. IDK how I would manage without insurance.
Are there a group of the same type of companies that can band together and become a "group" in order to get better rates? My Father in law did that when he owned a car dealership..
my best to you.
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Character is so largely affected by association, that we cannot afford to be indifferent as to who or what our friends are
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