What I hate about Healthcare reform.

Call it ObamaCare, Medicare, CHIP, FHP, whatever. There's a huge amount of debate, and the "government shutdown" was at the center of it. So after 13+ years in the Health insurance industry, here's my take on why it's a bad idea and misconceptions about what it is. Misconception #1 It helps people get healthcare that can't afford it. Well no. What it really does is enable people who are irresponsible to continue to be irresponsible. For example, a few years ago I got laid off after being employed by Aetna for 10 years. Two months later my wife was laid off. We went six months with no employer group insurance plan available. The previous year my daughter had gotten sick... "15 surgeries or she looses her left leg" sick. The bills (about 1/2 million dollars) would have bankrupted us if we didn't have insurance, so we knew firsthand the importance of having health insurance, so we paid $500 a month for an individual plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield (ironically a health insurance company that I've never worked for). Now $500 a month seems like a lot, but lets put it in perspective: - $500 is 71 packs of cigarettes @ $7 a pack (a little more than 2 people smoking a pack a day for a month) - $500 is 10 times eating at a restaurant @ $50 a meal (That's cheap, McDonald's for a family of 4) - $500 is 2 car payments @ $250 (again cheap cars) So I guess I'm OK with people who have sold their cars to get rid of the payment, quit smoking, aren't drinking, only goes to restaurants for a part time job, have no cable TV, and carry a thermos of home brewed coffee to their other part time job staying on welfare healthcare. Misconception #2 It stops those "Greedy insurance giants" from making money from sick people. Woah, WAY wrong. Medicaid is THE new profit center for the insurance Giants. We just added another couple of payers of bureaucracy. See the federal government doesn't pay the hospitals directly. When someone signs up for Medicare they choose a "Plan" that is run by an insurance company, who bills the state, who bills the federal government. Meanwhile each layer has to pay people to process each step along the way. Oh and each state does things a little bit differently, so it's not like there's one system that runs smoothly. Misconception #3 It forces employers ("the man") to provide health insurance for their employees. Kind of. IF a company has 50 or more full time employees, and IF the average salary of those employees is more than $250,000. I'm not sure what happens if the average salary is say $40K (the national average), but Small businesses with fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees with average annual wages below $50,000 can get tax credits to help pay for employee premiums. I'm not sure if that means it's still mandatory, but OK. Caviet, I'm not much of an expert on this part of the law but here's my "common sense" opinion: -If you have a company that is successful enough to have people with an average salary over $250,000 you have a smart, talented bunch of people, and I'll bet they're smart enough and talented enough to find a job else ware if you don't treat them well, so you probably have a really great insurance plan in the interest of retaining talent (or you're quickly out of business) OR you have a bunch of employees that say "I don't CARE about insurance, I have fat stacks of cash and am happy to get it for myself!". -If you have a company that hires a lot of people really cheap (say food service or retail) and you're suddenly required by law to provide health insurance to them at $500 per employee that is a significant expense. One that will either be passed along to your customer, reflected in the "cash" wages of your employees (lower wages, less employees), or result in not being in business anymore (your employees no longer have a job). Either way, sounds like companies would run better without government interference.