Healthcare reform is dead as far as I am concerned. I never thought Obama was much of a progressive and he is proving it.
The lobbyists are clogging the system with money. I have always felt that the biggest problem with major legislation is their size. They are unwieldy. Too much pork is put into them. Yeah, yeah, the grease from the pork makes the gears move. That is true with many things that are opaque and hard to understand, but healthcare is not hard to understand when you break it down.
Many people who think they are opposed to healthcare reform find out they are really in favor of it when the details emerge. So emerge them, bit by bit. I have a plan with four simple parts. Hack away.
The primary opponent of the Leadbetter Act was Bush. Once he was removed, it was relatively easy to pass the law. Leadbetter was the female employee that was paid less for the same work for something like 20 years. Her employer hid that information from her. Duh. Although she found out, the Supreme Court ruled that she could only sue for 90 days back pay because that was the statute of limitations in the law. For all the money they cheated her over the last two decades, they could keep that as a reward for deceiving her. Lovely interpretation of the law.
Anyway, it was an easy to understand law, the fix that is. You cannot pay your employees less based on their sex, age, race, etc... If you hide it, too bad, you don't get to keep the money. Lots of congressmen were in favor of it. It almost had a veto proof majority during Bush, but not quite. With Obama as president, it passed easily. Congress couldn't show their faces to their constituents, except for perhaps the birther types, without voting for equal pay for equal work. The birther types probably also believe women should stay in the home anyway.
So simplify the healthcare plan to something everyone can understand. No one likes what insurance companies do to people by denying coverage or terminating them.
So my plan is to ditch the public option for the most part now and pass a law with four simple parts. Keep it simple stupid.
- No person shall be denied healthcare coverage based on a pre-existing condition. Any insurance coverage offered to a person must be priced at a rate equivalent to similarly situated persons. (An average of all people of the same decade of age, i.e. 50-60). Failure to offer coverage, or to offer it at a price that is not commensurate with that persons decade of age, shall be punishable by... make up your penalty. The penalty can escalate from a week in the slammer to a year per incident. The penalty must be served by both the individual denying the coverage and the CEO of the corporation. Throw in a financial penalty equal to paying the individuals insurance coverage for ten years.
- No person currently insured may be terminated for any reason if such coverage has been in place for longer than 60 days. (the insurer can do their background checks and examinations and after 60 days, they are on the hook). Any failure to declare a medical condition shall not be grounds for termination unless the failure was the exact condition that is being treated. Penalties are the same as No. 1.
Nothing in this law shall be construed to require any citizen of the United States to purchase private health insurance.
- Any coverage maximums shall be published on the first page of the insurance policy in size 20 bold font. Insurance policies must be distributed to every policy holder, not just the "plan administrator." Failure to do so shall be punishable like No. 1 but with lesser penalties, because the crime is lesser in malice.
- The minimum age for which an American citizen shall become eligible for Medicare shall decrease by one year, every year, until the minimum age is zero. (so the first year the minimum age drops to 64, and the next year it drops to 63, etc...) Most people are quite fond of their Medicare and would love to see them covered a little longer.
Those are the three most egregious failings of the insurance industry, and a plan to starve them slowly, or watch them rot in jail.
Oh, and the penalties will be considered "strict liability." Us lawyer types know what that is, but for the law person it means that there is no duty to prove intent. You don't have to prove the insurance company intended to deny you coverage or drop your coverage because they would of course all proclaim their innocence and "good faith." The best example of a strict liability crime is statutory rape. If she's under 18 (16 in some states) and you are over 18 (21 in some states) and you had sex, you are guilty. No complaining that she looked older or had a fake ID. It happened or it didn't. No delving into the complexities of the mind. You limit your penalty options with strict liability crimes, but on the federal level, it can mean up to two years in the slammer. Personally, that is pretty stiff.