Family coverage in a typical plan today is around $1200 per month. Your employer picks a lot of that up and so the bad things going on in the industry may not be visible to you, yet. But things are about to get a lot worse.
First, I am conservative, and while I'm just as anxious to dump Obamacare as anyone, this plan is no plan at all - and I'll tell you why.
First, there is no provision to drive insurance premiums downward. Given that they have doubled in the last three years since Obamacare then any legislation should have been crafted to reset those rates to prior rates, plus enough to cover a relatively small amount of health care cost increases.
Second, since the mandate penalties are removed and preexisting coverage requirements are not removed then rates will continue to go up (this will finally wake up all Americans, including those with generous employer paid insurance).
Third, the tax subsidies offered for poorer Americans are not enough. Consider after tax subsidies of $4000.00 for a low income couple. That may seem like a lot, but if the premium is $12000 a year then they still have to come up with $8000.00. That's not going to happen for families on the low end - so effectively, there is no coverage for people who can't afford insurance.Plus, they need the money during the year when sickness or injury comes, not at the tax deadline a year later.
I honestly believe that Congress doesn't understand this issue, by and large. They have group federal group coverage so why would they?
So what's my solution?
Work through this with an 80/20 rule mentality. Congress should slow down. They should create a study group composed of people within each major category of Americans: Employed with employer contribution, Individual (1099ers) entrepreneurs, poor people, etc. This study group should have several of each category - and let's make sure they're pretty smart.
Any plan that is crafted should show and have the result approved by the study group, particularly as to the effect on themselves. Each member would agree that to serve that they must treat their other member as their brother or sister and ensure the plan works for them too.
Once that group is established, here are a few ideas of my own:
First, decide that it may be ok not to have an insurance solution for the poorest of Americans. We simply need to decide that we want to provide quality health care to those without enough income. This support needs to come from a general tax base paid by all Americans. Yes, as a Christian-conservative I really do believe this is the best answer. There should be no tie-in between Healthcare insurance that most American's purchase and the system of providing quality healthcare to people who can't afford the insurance (and prove it).
Now we have a pool of Americans that will pay for insurance, so here are some possible solutions:
1 - Preexisting conditions should be covered - unless you have a large gap (more than 3 months, maybe 6 months). However, being "covered" MUST include viable programs like Christian cost sharing plans that are by law not technically "insurance". After all, they pay like everyone else - just much more efficiently. Covering preexisting conditions is better for ALL of us since it will keep people out of public assistance and creating more cost for the general tax base.
2 - HSAs should finally be available to EVERYONE, no matter what. Let Americans save and offset expenses.
3 - Reset insurance premium rates to $500 per month for a family. Now, many "realistic" people will say that's not possible. Actually, it is, and here's why. The cost of health care reimbursements have gone up by a very small fraction since Obamacare, so the premium increases are due to many factors unrelated to health. The insurance system is riddled with inefficiencies all designed around creative ways to "not pay" medical bills. The industry is full of millions of special "fee schedules" - so as a result the payers (insurance companies) have tens of thousands of workers involved in making these processes work.
But in reality, how would you get them to agree to lower premiums with all these workers and invested processes? Simple, you don't.
The solution has to provide a way to allow a new insurance industry to develop. I could write down my own details of it, but that's not the point - there would be a solution. If you don't believe it, then how are the Christian cost-sharing solutions successful at less than $500 per month? One or more of those organizations also manage the flow of the money as well between doctors and patients. If they can do it, then obviously it's possible. So, let's have the study group examine how it's done right.
In summary, the proposed bill is an obvious failure before it starts, so why are we letting Congress pass it? Because there are too many special interest groups trying to protect themselves. That's why your Congress needs to hear from you. Say NO to this and go about reform in a much smarter/methodical way.
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