Health Insurance Plan Essay
INTRODUCTION
Health Insurance costs had increased tremendously during the Bush Administration (2000-2008). The premiums had been doubled, and risen faster than wages. Moreover, increased co-pay and deductibles threatened access to care. Many insurance plans were also limited, only allowing certain amount of doctor visits or hospital days. And over half of all personal bankruptcies were due to medical bills. A changed needed to be made.
As a result of increased medical costs, about 45 million Americans including over 8 million children were uninsured, and millions more were on the brink of losing their coverage due to the rising costs. Even those individuals who were insured struggled to cope with the soaring medical costs. Due to the high costs, employers (mainly small businesses) also found it difficult to provide health coverage to their employees. Health care …show more content…
It is also clear the long-term benefit of the proposed plan mainly because of his preventive measure to chronic illnesses. However, the short-term advantage is in serious jeopardy because the plan requires a huge chunk of money upfront to be implemented. The plan will save Americans a significant amount of money, but at the same time increase government spending by the same amount. One striking aspect of the plan is the idea of reducing cost of catastrophic illness as stated earlier. However, is it really a cost reducer? Rather, it is more of a cost shift. It is indeed true that it will reduce the cost of health insurance for the workers and their families, but it will also increase government spending by the same amount. The federal government will take upon a huge portion of the highest cost claims, thereby taking these costs out of the price of health insurance. The reimbursement to employers will balance out the costs of these catastrophic illnesses in the short
Health Insurance costs had increased tremendously during the Bush Administration (2000-2008). The premiums had been doubled, and risen faster than wages. Moreover, increased co-pay and deductibles threatened access to care. Many insurance plans were also limited, only allowing certain amount of doctor visits or hospital days. And over half of all personal bankruptcies were due to medical bills. A changed needed to be made.
As a result of increased medical costs, about 45 million Americans including over 8 million children were uninsured, and millions more were on the brink of losing their coverage due to the rising costs. Even those individuals who were insured struggled to cope with the soaring medical costs. Due to the high costs, employers (mainly small businesses) also found it difficult to provide health coverage to their employees. Health care …show more content…
It is also clear the long-term benefit of the proposed plan mainly because of his preventive measure to chronic illnesses. However, the short-term advantage is in serious jeopardy because the plan requires a huge chunk of money upfront to be implemented. The plan will save Americans a significant amount of money, but at the same time increase government spending by the same amount. One striking aspect of the plan is the idea of reducing cost of catastrophic illness as stated earlier. However, is it really a cost reducer? Rather, it is more of a cost shift. It is indeed true that it will reduce the cost of health insurance for the workers and their families, but it will also increase government spending by the same amount. The federal government will take upon a huge portion of the highest cost claims, thereby taking these costs out of the price of health insurance. The reimbursement to employers will balance out the costs of these catastrophic illnesses in the short