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Even the Industry Admits Their “Concession” Is Not A Big Deal |
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David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times identifies another reason why the “concessions” agreed on by big business and the insurance industry on health care reform is really much less important than their press releases make it sound:
The insurers are saying that they’ll treat all people fairly in return for a government requirement that everyone buy their product.
Yet if you read the fine print in their plan, it turns out that they’re reserving the right to charge different prices for different levels of coverage — a practice that would effectively keep us where we are, with sick (or potentially sick) people paying more for insurance.
…But Ignagni [of AHIP] and Serota [of Blue Cross] go on to say, almost in passing, that “benefit design” will be needed to keep policies affordable.
That’s insurance-speak for offering bare-bones coverage at relatively low prices and more complete coverage at higher prices — basically the same sort of system we have now.
“We’re telegraphing that if people are allowed to buy more, then it will cost more,” Ignagni told me. “You wouldn’t charge the same for a Cadillac as you would for a Ford.”
The danger, however, is that younger, healthier people would probably gravitate toward the cheaper basic policies, while older people with more health issues would feel compelled to buy the more comprehensive plans.
“It’s a very potent way of segregating sick people from healthy people,” said Karen Pollitz, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. “It’s essentially a way of continuing to charge more based on people’s health.”
Which is exactly what the insurers are saying they won’t do in return for that much-desired government mandate.
That was supposed to be the big breakthrough, that the insurance industry agreed they wouldn’t charge you more if you were sick. But clearly, that’s not even the case.
As Richard Kirsch, our national campaign director, said, “They’ve moved the health care debate forward a few inches.” And maybe they didn’t even do that.
That begs the question, why would the industry and big business participate in these talks and even look for breakthroughs? As I argued last week, it’s because they are scared:
The fact, however, that the industry is making these meaningless gestures shows how genuinely scared they are of reform. They know the public is against them. They know they make a shoddy product. And they know reform is coming. They want desperately to stay at the table, and they think - wrongly - that offering meaningless concessions like this will ensure their voices are still heard.
Even those participating in the so-called “Health Reform Dialogue” think the process is a lot of talk and not much action:
“A day late and a dollar short,” said one participant who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize continuing participation.
The industry is intent on blurring the lines between real reform and the status quo. They are clearly scared of being cut out of the negotiating process in Congress, but as they’ve shown by agreeing to meaningless “concessions,” they’re not nearly scared enough.
If Health Care for America Now has anything to say about it, they will be soon enough.
(also posted at the NOW! blog)
