By JEFF EMANUEL
July 19, 2008
A leading cause of high-priced health insurance is the number of mandatory minimum coverages state governments require be included in health insurance policies sold within their state’s borders.
Minnesota currently holds the lead among the states with 64 mandatory minimum coverages; the state of Illinois is tied for 22nd in the country with 40 mandated minimum coverages (source: the Council on Affordable Health Insurance’s “Mandates in the States 2008”), including insurance coverage for chiropractics, speech and hearing therapists, and social workers.
While there is no doubt that each of these (as well as the other 36 mandatory coverages Illinois law requires) can be beneficial to some health insurance consumers, the key point to bear in mind is that each of these areas is required to be covered by every single health insurance policy sold in the state of Illinois.
Don’t need a speech or hearing therapist? Tough luck – your insurance premium pays for that coverage anyway. Want to avoid footing the bill for Social Worker insurance? As it stands, your only option is to leave Illinois altogether and move to a nearby state like Iowa or Kentucky, where that particular coverage is not mandated by law to be included in every policy sold in the state. (That is the case with several other coverages, as well, as Iowa and Kentucky have 25 and 33 mandates respectively, making minimum policies in those states less expensive on average than those purchased in Illinois).
While interstate purchase of health insurance policies continues to be prohibited in the U.S., state governments remain free to artificially raise the price of coverage for their citizens without having to worry about competition. Further, due to the nature of the product, there is little risk of a significant decrease in demand for the increasingly expensive product, regardless of mounting cost and regulation.
Unfortunately, the costs incurred by legislators’ catering to health care special interest groups who are constantly lobbying to have their specialty added to the mandated coverage list are disproportionately carried by lower- and middle-income workers, who are the most common consumers of private health coverage.
When governments pass legislation that increases the price of health insurance, like adding coverages to the list of mandated minimums, the working class and those below them are increasingly forced to make an all-or-nothing decision between purchasing an outrageously expensive plan that covers them for all sorts of procedures and experts that they may never have the slightest need for, or simply going uninsured. The latter, of course, puts the burden of paying for their health care squarely on the backs of the state’s taxpayers.
The state of Florida recently acted against the big-government conventional wisdom that seems to be currently guiding so many state legislatures, and passed a new law that seeks to staunch the hemorrhaging of costs that is sweeping the national coverage market. The legislation, signed by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) in early June and known as “Cover Florida,” allows insurers in the Sunshine State to offer minimum-coverage health policies that are exempt from most mandatory coverages.
Florida is currently 13th among the states with 48 minimum individual coverage mandates, including hair prosthesis, orthotics, and second surgical opinion. Not coincidentally, it also has one of the highest rates of uninsured (21%, or roughly 3.8 million people) in the country. Florida’s move to allow stripped-down policies to be sold to individuals who qualify is an attempt to improve that by offering consumers the opportunity to purchase more affordable – and more personalized – policies that are free of cumbersome, expensive, superfluous mandates.
Governor Charlie Crist (R) is getting some well-deserved credit for this initiative; further, the legislature itself deserves a credit for unanimously passing the measure. Allowing more personalized insurance policies to be sold within their borders would be a major step state governments could take toward actually decreasing both the cost of insurance and the number of individuals who lack coverage.
Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen on a large scale unless the market is opened up to competition that takes place not between providers, but between states – something that can only happen when governments realize that their monopolies are hurting both themselves and their citizens, and open up the health insurance market to interstate purchase.
There are serious issues at stake in this election, and serious differences between the candidates. And we will argue about them, as we should. But it should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, and heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other.
John McCain will put the national interest ahead of partisanship, he will work with anyone who sincerely wants to get this country moving again. If John McCain is elected President, the era of the permanent campaign will end. The era of problem solving will begin.
As a traditional American conservative, I lend my support
to John McCain with calculated reservations. But now that
I have, I want him to win. He is simply the best choice
for the times. As a former Marine who served in Vietnam,
I also have certain loyality to him just as a fellow brother who served his country with honor during that war.
For these times, and considering his unworthy opponent, he
is the only logical choice, especially considering Iraq
and that particular hotbed of action and controversy. McCain is a strong leader, let there may NO mistake. He is
like a Republican Truman. He also is the only, ONLY choice
for those like me who rever this country and all the sacrifices made by so many. I had two uncles in W.W.II, one
being a hero like McCain as POW via the Bataan Death March
(also winning TWO Silver Stars defending the Phillipines).
The other landed on the beaches of Italy for brief but intense campaign. McCain is the only man for the times.
Period. He has my vote, which I don't lend easily, and I
hope anyone who reads this will also consider him as your
choice. Thanks!!
John McCain will put the national interest ahead of partisanship, he will work with anyone who sincerely wants to get this country moving again. If John McCain is elected President, the era of the permanent campaign will end.
To really shake up the election and scare the Democrats, McCain's 1st pick for VP should be Fred Smith (FedEx). He's not a politician and is a genius on the economy, 2 things the Republicans need now. 2nd choice should be J. C. Watts, a true conservative and one who will divide the black vote, or those feel the need to vote for a black person this election.
We don't need a genious in the white house. We just need a person who can communicate with the american people. He needs some bright people around him who have new, innovative ideas that, presented correctly, will engage the American public and give hope for a better future. John can do this, but he needs to understand his limitations. He's not Ronald Reagan. He's more of an Ike. recently I read a speech, by Ike, delivered in 1946 or 7 aloud in the room where my college age daughters could hear. I've never read an Ike speech before- I was born in '57 and my daughters certainly had not. They usually get bored or leave the room when I start my political ramblings, but something I noticed was that they were captivated. I read the entire speech 20 minutes and my eldest daughter, a recent tulane grad- Magna cum laude- I might add, asked who was that? I told her Ike and she was truly amazed. I was amazed at their amazement. John's people could take a page from the plain spoken former president. Study his speeches. These are complicated times and we need someone who will surround himself with the brightest and the best, but still can break it down to people, just like ike.
In 1987 I moved my family to Austin, tx. I had not dealt with computers since my days at Lamar U. I'm a real estate investoer and hadn't really kept up with the high tech revolution other than buying gadgets. The real estate market in austin at the time was awful and I felt that it had to do with crash of the oil business and maybe the 86 tax law changes. I soon learned that the biggest problems that year stemmed from America being behind the jaanese and koreans and others in the high tech field. What took place in Austin and America in the next decade is tried and true. Certain problems in America cannot be overcome by the private sector. We learned this during the great depression with quasi governmental agencies such as the TVA and others like it. The space race is another example. Finding cures for certain diseases is another. A very important group government effort,undoubtably was the manhattan project. In Austin Sematech was formed in the late 80's. This government enabled project brought the best minds from throughout America's high-tech businesses and help project America into a leadership position in the world. All information was shared and hundreds of fledgling businesses evolved, called Tadpoles. This was truly a success story. Left to the corporate world and their competitive nature and the sheer costs involved this probably would not have unfolde this way, American prominence in the computer age. Now here we are in 2008. Since the 1970's America has known very well of its appetite for oil and our dependence on foreign sources. We didn't learn much though. It was left to corporate America to meet higher MPG ratings as set by congress. As mentioned before oil collapsed in 1986 which effectively put oil on the back burner. No one cared when the environmentalists started their push to restrict emissions,control drilling offshore and on and gained a foothold with their global warming mantra. The price of oil over 140 per brl this morning will destroy the world as we know it. Drilling for oil may increase our supplies in the long run, but will probably be too late and meet way too much opposition from Americans themselves. We need to address this issue as we have any national emergency since the great depression. Only a non-competitive, government funded organization dedicated to creating a new engine that can be used by every automaker, by every maker of energy related products. There has to be better way to obtain energy from passive sources, but it takes money and minds which tend to have a hard time moving together. The only way for this public/private initiative to move forward is for a plain spoken man to get the American people behind it.
How many zeros in a billion?
This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of it's releases.
A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age.
D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E.
A billion dollars ago was only
8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our government
is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at New Orleans ..
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)
is presently asking Congress for
250 BILLION DOLLARS
to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number...
what does it mean?
A.
Well. if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans
(every man, woman, and child)
you each get $516,528.
B.
Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C.
Or... if you are a family of four...
your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D. C
< HELLO! >
Are all your calculators broken??
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax < BR>Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
I nheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Tel ephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in the world...
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!'
And I still have to
press '1'
for English.
I hope this goes around the
USA
at least 100 times
What the heck happened?????
Instead of Federal health care, why not turn over all Federal funds to the State governments on a per capita basis. We have done the same for highways and infrastructure. Each State could handle health care for it's citizens better than the Federal government. California would be much different than South Dakota for instance. We, as a country, pay an enormous amount of our annual budget for medical care already and if it is spent correctly , it would cover everyone. The only thing that would change is how the money is distributed. All the medical facilities are already in place and the only real losers would be the HMO's.
US medical physicians are directly responsible for high priced healthcare. They have abandoned the "practice of medicine" for the "business of medicine." The doctors use the American Medical Association (AMA) to push through fat fees to treat Medicare patients. Private insurance companies use the same billing codes as Medicare (the codes are owned by the AMA) and so their pricing follows Medicare pricing. AMA says doctors will stop taking Medicare patients if congress cuts payments. I say call their bluff and cut fees. Its a disgrace that our politicians won't stand up to greedy doctors.
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