Here's another clip from Rep. Jan Schakowsky's health care town hall meeting in Niles last night. As you'll see, an audience member asks her to explain the difference between health care and health care coverage. Schakowsky's answer is on point, as she tells two stories that illustrate how Americans can be covered by a private insurer, but still be locked out of receiving affordable care. Watch:
The New York Times editorial board recently highlighted the issue of the underinsured (such as the farmer Schakowsky cites):
The Commonwealth Fund estimates that 25 million Americans who had health insurance in 2007 had woefully inadequate policies with high deductibles and restrictions that stuck them with large amounts of uncovered expenses. Many postponed needed treatments or went into debt to pay medical bills.
And to learn more about rescission -- the reprehensible insurer practice described in Schakowsky's second anecdote -- check out this post from July.
Comments
bob vance (not verified) on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 12:08
So she leaves out how much the farmer was actually paying for that coverage and how many people were covered. $10,000 is only $830/mo, which is less than my coverage by a long shot. If he wants pre-paid health care, then it will cost a lot more and the deductible can go down. So, the real distinction is between health *insurance* against catastrophic illness that will wipe a family out and pre-paid health care that covers going to the dr for the sniffles. What you pay depends on the plan you want
The second story sounds bad, although details were left out. That kind of situation can be and should be fixed, but it does *not* require the government to take over health *care*. But we do regulations to prevent that.
In fact, reducing health costs requires government to get out of the way, allowing more individual options, portability across states, no employer-based insurance, tort reform, and health savings plans that incent consumers to look for the best cost and reduce unnecessary visits to the dr. We should ALL be able to deduct our health insurance costs, not just allow companies to deduct their portion of employer-based plans.
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