I got the following directly from http://www.barackobama.com/. It explains better than anything the health insurance exchange:
“The Obama-Biden plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals purchase new affordable health care options if they are uninsured or want new health insurance. Through the Exchange, any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan, and income-based sliding scale tax credits will be provided for people and families who need it. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and meet the same standards for quality and efficiency.
Insurers would be required to justify an above-average premium increase to the Exchange. The Exchange would evaluate plans and make the differences among the plans, including cost of services, transparent. The Exchange will have the following features:
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the program through which Members of Congress get their own health care. Plans will include coverage of all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles. Participants will be charged fair premiums and minimal co-pays for deductibles for preventive services.
Simplified paperwork. The plan will simplify paperwork for providers and will increase savings to the system overall.
Easy enrollment. All Exchange health insurance plans will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
Portability and choice. Participants will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.
Quality and efficiency. Participating hospitals and providers that participate in the new public plan will be required to collect and report data to ensure that standards for health care quality, health information technology and administration are being met.”
I love this concept except for two very important points:
For the health care exchange to truly increase competition, it needs to extend beyond state boundaries. To have two to four companies competing against each other isn’t competition. In most states that is what it will be (Aetna, Blue Cross, CIGNA and some other provider). Health Insurance reform must change the way insurance is written in the states and begin to allow plans to extend beyond single states. If you want to see competition, try 10-20 plans that offer comprehensive in-state and out-of-state benefits competing for your business – that is when you will really see the benefits of this kind of exchange.
The public option will drastically reduce the private insurance industry. The Free Market is the best road for reform and the Public Option will forever close it. You cannot just rebuild an entire industry once it has been destroyed. Rather than destroy it we must seek to make it better.
The health care exchange with the public option is just a mechanism to get people onto the public option quicker than they otherwise would be and therefore would lead to a decline in the free market even faster. The attached video shows the intent of the exchange and public option.
The exchange could be a wonderful tool if used to truly increase free market forces and did so with the modifications listed above. Otherwise, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing as shown in the video. Free market reform must include the Health Insurance Exchange as tailored above. A modified exchange is an excellent idea that we must push forward. If not modified, it will become a political tool and the consumer will lose.
“The Obama-Biden plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals purchase new affordable health care options if they are uninsured or want new health insurance. Through the Exchange, any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan, and income-based sliding scale tax credits will be provided for people and families who need it. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and meet the same standards for quality and efficiency.
Insurers would be required to justify an above-average premium increase to the Exchange. The Exchange would evaluate plans and make the differences among the plans, including cost of services, transparent. The Exchange will have the following features:
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the program through which Members of Congress get their own health care. Plans will include coverage of all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles. Participants will be charged fair premiums and minimal co-pays for deductibles for preventive services.
Simplified paperwork. The plan will simplify paperwork for providers and will increase savings to the system overall.
Easy enrollment. All Exchange health insurance plans will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
Portability and choice. Participants will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.
Quality and efficiency. Participating hospitals and providers that participate in the new public plan will be required to collect and report data to ensure that standards for health care quality, health information technology and administration are being met.”
I love this concept except for two very important points:
For the health care exchange to truly increase competition, it needs to extend beyond state boundaries. To have two to four companies competing against each other isn’t competition. In most states that is what it will be (Aetna, Blue Cross, CIGNA and some other provider). Health Insurance reform must change the way insurance is written in the states and begin to allow plans to extend beyond single states. If you want to see competition, try 10-20 plans that offer comprehensive in-state and out-of-state benefits competing for your business – that is when you will really see the benefits of this kind of exchange.
The public option will drastically reduce the private insurance industry. The Free Market is the best road for reform and the Public Option will forever close it. You cannot just rebuild an entire industry once it has been destroyed. Rather than destroy it we must seek to make it better.
The health care exchange with the public option is just a mechanism to get people onto the public option quicker than they otherwise would be and therefore would lead to a decline in the free market even faster. The attached video shows the intent of the exchange and public option.
The exchange could be a wonderful tool if used to truly increase free market forces and did so with the modifications listed above. Otherwise, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing as shown in the video. Free market reform must include the Health Insurance Exchange as tailored above. A modified exchange is an excellent idea that we must push forward. If not modified, it will become a political tool and the consumer will lose.
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