I’ll have a lot more to say about healthcare reform later today. Five quick points right now:
1. This is not only historic, it’s also a very good thing. For all the rhetoric about healthcare reform, the fact is that it will help a lot of people: 32 million to be exact. These are the people without health insurance who will now be able to get coverage because of this legislation. Others will have access to much better coverage than they have now. The sick won’t be denied coverage anymore. And people who already have coverage through their employer can rest assured they will still be able to afford coverage if they lose their job.
2. The health insurance industry — which played the role of villain in the reform debate — is going to see its profits suffer. The industry will take hits on its Medicare Advantage, individual and small group business lines. It will also experience some adverse selection because the legislation calls for guaranteed issue of health insurance without a strong coverage mandate. Other costly regulations and taxes will take a bite as well.
3. The managed care industry will survive. Yes, it will be less profitable (which suggests the need for additional consolidation), but the industry isn’t going away. The winners will be the companies that take the advice of Aetna chief executive Ron Williams and focus on four areas: products and services that improve quality and control costs; convenient tools and easy-to-understand information to help members make better-informed healthcare decisions; transparency; and new wellness and prevention programs.
4. You’ve got to hand it to President Obama. He’s made history — again.
5. I hate to say, “I told you so” (all right, actually I love to say, “I told you so”), but I predicted on that dark day following Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts that the House would pass the Senate bill. If you want to know what will happen next, be sure to pick up a copy of our annual report The Outlook for Managed Care 2010. Our forecasts were based on the assumption of last night’s yea vote.
Subscribe in RSS Reader
It’s ‘yea’ not yay.
Well, duh! I know that.
My excuse is I was up all night watching C-SPAN. That’ll numb anyone’s brain.
Thanks,
Carl
Carl,
I completely disagree with your assessment that passage of the Health Reform Bill by the House is a good thing. What has been called a Health Reform Bill has been instead a Health Insurance Reform Bill, and an ill-conceived one at that! And when the real costs of this bill come to light years down the road, my children and grandchildren will bear the unfortunate responsibility of paying the cost.
Have you taken the time to ask yourself why Tort Reform is so visibly missing from the Health Reform Bill??? Could it be that both our President and the large majority of Senators and Congressmen who happen to be attorneys are unwilling to place any limits on legal fees they and/or their associates may be able to earn now or in the future as relates to medical malpractice lawsuits??? When subjected to the “smell test”, I believe the lack of tort reform fails miserably!
Many of the 32 million uninsured you claim will benefit from the bill are employees who could currently afford coverage under their Employer’s Group Health Plan with their employer paying 50% or more of the Employee Only cost, but chose not to participate because they can always go to a Hospital Emergency Room and not be turned away for anything deemed to be life threatening or requiring urgent care. These are people who simply are unwilling to pay for coverage! And with the weak mandates included in the Health Reform Bill, mandates which likely will be stripped away as Un-Constitutional by the Supreme Court once contested by the Attorney Generals of 36 States who are prepared to contest the mandate, many of these same uninsureds will remain uninsured by choice!
Paraphrasing information taken from the National Review:
The Health Insurance Industry, which was characterized as THE VILLIAN during the health care debate process, currently ranks 35th, with a profit-margin of just 2.2 percent, per the Fortune 500 most recent profit-margin rankings of all U.S. Industries. A 2.2% profit-margin is less than 1/5 the profit-margin of railroads. Of the top 10 Health Insurers, 2 of them lost money, and none of them had a profit margin larger than 4.5%. The collective profit-margin of Health Insurers is less than 1/8 of that of the drug companies and less than 1/7 that of companies selling medical products and/or equipment. Did President Obama attempt to vilify greedy hospitals anytime during the health care debate process??? NO! Why? Because it is easy to vilify Health Insurers as most people have a bone to pick with any and all insurance companies as no one likes to pay insurance premiums of any kind!!!
Combined profits of America’s 10 largest health insurers comes to $8.3 billion. This is less than 2/3 of Wal-Mart’s profits alone, less than 1/2 of General Electrics profits alone, and less than 1/7 of what Medicare loses to fraud each year! Collectively, Health Insurers have 1/8 the profit-margin of either Coke or McDonald’s, 1/9 that of eBay, and 1/15 that of Merck.
The combined profits of the 14 largest U.S. Health Insurers, those who made the Fortune 1000 list, are $8.7 billion; this is less than 0.4% of the $2.5 trillion overall U.S. health-care costs! Once again, this begs the question, “Why did President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, along with a number of other ranking Democrats find it necessary to vilify the Health Insurance Companies???” The answer is simple, it was an easy way to find public support based on the public’s general dislike and/or wariness of all insurance and the companies providing it, and it was an easy way to cloud and even hide real health care reform options never brought to the table!
You’re right, you’ve got to hand it to President Obama, he sure knows how to sell based on mis-truths and mis-representation to his fellow Democrats, since the American public hasn’t bought into this Bill as it exists! President Obama would do very well selling swamp land here in Florida!
When I read your glowing comments relating to passage of Health Reform, I could only ask myself whether you are dumb or just plain stupid. Having thought about this a little longer, I suspect you may be both!
Jim
Resource Benefits, Inc.
130 S. University Drive, Suite E
Plantation, FL 33324
Phone: (954) 476-4300
Fax: (954) 452-8112
E-mail: jim@resourcebenefitsinc.com
Website: http://www.resourcebenefitsinc.com
It’s a sad day when those elected to represent fail to do so, as they most surely did this weekend. Although poll after poll showed the public was NOT in favor of this monstrosity, the U.S. Congress saw fit to ignore them and toe the party line. That is the historic nature of this bill. Yes, there are a few good things that will result from this, but the unintended consequences will bankrupt our nation and lead to a governmental structure that our founding fathers fought to prevent. Unfortunately, this will happen 10 years from now, so there will be few people who connect the collapse of our nation to this “historic” event.
Bryan Stuchell, MD
You noted that this is “a very good thing. For all the rhetoric about healthcare reform, the fact is that it will help a lot of people: 32 million to be exact.” Will it? Yes sounds good on the surface. Have you looked at this 2,300 page bill. I went through it when it just over a thousand pages was impressed at the degree to which there was an effort to tweak a broken “system” adding dozens of boards, commissions, funds, grants, etc with all the operational/admin. support required to manage yet a more complex “system.” This is not going to save money – this is going to cost more money to support yet more government administrative functions. Dependency (and expectation that becomes multigenerational) on government programs have already been created in the US in health care as well as other arena. This creates more incentive to rely on big daddy and has the risk of contributing to individuals taking even less responsibility for their own health. Don’t misunderstand me – we need reform, but not sure who benefits from this bill. And how are all the states to come up with their state share of the Medicaid match? At least one back door deal in trade of a vote on this bill was taken out the bill (Nebraska) – Most states are struggling to make ends and will find it very difficult to take on a mandated coverage level and required match obligation.
Consider the GAO Report June 1991. If Medicare, Medicaid and VA system were to be combined into a single system we would save enough from the admin. infrastructure related cost to cover the health care needs of the then 30 million uninsured.
Donald R. Stern, M.D., M.P.H.
Director
Richmond City Health District
“Working Together for a Healthier Richmond”
400 E. Cary Street
Richmond, Va 23219
804-205-3722
Carl,
You’re right regarding legislative passage, but for the wrong reasons. This legislative arm twisting was compliments of Chicago style politics of bribery and sleight of hand, something Obama is very good at.
For what it’s worth, I was suggesting Obama was going to win this thing last summer, even though I oppose what he has done and will continue to do—healthcare is only one of a many-pronged strategy of his radical left agenda. Next will be amnesty for illegal’s, as he looks for ways to buy more votes for his 2013 reelection effort.
Sadly, as with all who believe there are things in life for free, many American’s who think they support what he has done simply don’t yet see where this is going, and how Obama plans to pay for it.
In the time proven words of Margaret Thatcher “Socialism is wonderful form of government, until you run out of other people’s money”. Like those you encourage, you will learn about 20 months from now all of what is in this bill and what it means to you and other American’s indebtedness. There were ways to achieve the principles of reform some naïve folks thought Obama was pursuing, but to achieve those requires open, honest and transparent communications…not back room deals under the dark of night. Remember all those CSPAN covered healthcare reform meetings Obama was going to conduct? IF you look real hard for them, you’ll find them under the same rock he is hiding the true costs of this upcoming financial disaster.
If you really want to know what happens next, all you have to do is read the economic history of other foolish nations that have gone down similar roads of abandoning personal responsibility under the illusion that the government is going to take care of them. Perhaps you start by talking with citizens in MA, and Hawaii regarding healthcare, or perhaps New Orleans regarding US Government’s ability to even build a levee.
Best wishes,
Greg
Gregory P. Swanson
President & CEO
National Medical Logistics
http://www.natmedlog.com
Cell: 804.651.6641
I totally disagree with your opinion and please stop sending me your emails. The healthcare bill was not a good thing. It will ruin the healthcare system and bankrupt this country even further.
John Lavin
Beacon Physician Placement Services L.L.C.
2 Klarides Village Drive
Suite 232
Seymour CT 06483
Phone: 888-881-9476
Fax: 203-881-9483
http://www.beaconphysicians.com