I work in the health insurance industry at a company with a commitment to help customers understand consumer-driven healthcare while better spending and saving their healthcare dollars. As luck would have it, healthcare and health insurance are pretty hot issues in the current presidential campaign. While I don't pretend to be an expert on our political candidates for President or their platforms, I do claim to know a thing or two about health insurance.On the way to work a few days ago, an analyst on NPR reported trends in voting for different demographics in the recent Iowa primary--apparenty, in the democratic race, younger voters favored Obama, middle-aged voters were split between Obama and Clinton, and elderly voters strongly favored Clinton. Clinton's support is easily explainable by the dollars she throws into ads directed towards the eldery, as well as her policy stance on health insurance.
[Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an Obama supporter. I am, however, a Hillary hater.]
Clinton supporters are attacking Obama for not proposing a federal mandate that every American buy health insurance--Clinton's proposal, on the other hand, prohibits insurers from giving price breaks to the young. What does that mean to us? Well, chances are good that if you are reading this blog, you're probably relatively young. Young people, aged 18-34, generally need minimal amounts of health care ($1,500 a year, on average, according to a Commonwealth Fund study). In most states (with New Jersey [I'm ashamed] and 4 others being the exception), your health insurance premiums are directly tied to the payout a health insurance company expects to make on your behalf. Therefore, if you are young and healthy, you'll have a significantly lower premium than someone older or with health issues.
In other words, Clinton's mandate "would force the young to subsidize the heath tab for the middle-aged generation. This subsidy would come on top of the payroll tax younger people already pay to support today's Medicare recipients. This is contrary to a fundamental American principle. This nation has always believed in making life better for its children, not exploiting them". (For more info: The Truth About Mandatory Health Insurance, Betsy McCaughey, WSJ, Jan 4, 2008).
My response? I'll show YOU exploiting. Call me selfish, but I say... Hillary, pay for your own dang self.
5 comments:
Too true. The baby boomers will not stop until we're bled dry. True, many don't realize that all the promises they vote for are in one way or another leading our generation into chains, the politicians who DO know better keep their distance from me- I won't even try to keep check on my fists of fury like the little one here.
Man, do I have some insurance policy questions for you. Insurance is so complex that it is difficult to know what politicians can do. Here is my number 1 question: Why is the cost of health care going up?
I like that article that you cite from the wsj. who told you about that opinion piece?
Yes, who is your source for all that is WSJ?
I still vote for "Pay for your own damn selves" as the title.
I too am a Hillary hater- yes, I think that about sums it up!
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