One of the main reasons that president Obama always gives for Obamacare is that he wants to change things for those folks who are living "one illness away from bankruptcy." You know, Obama want to make sure that a serious illness will not force families to use up all their financial resources so that they are consigned to poverty as a result. That certainly sounds like a noble goal. The problem, of course, is that it seems that for many folks, Obamacare does nothing like that. In fact, in my area, Obamacare seems to work to make certain that for many families if a serious illness strikes, the patient will just die.
Okay, I want my liberal readers to stop yelling at the screen right now. I am not talking about death panels. Nope, I am talking about the actual insurance plans that Obamacare is selling.
Let's use a concrete example. Right now, in New York state, there are a fair number of insurance plans being sold on the exchange. In New York, the web site is fairly well functional. The biggest problem areas are those where the state site has to tie into the federal data bases. So far, so good. The problem, however, arises when one considers the nature of the policies being sold. Not a single policy sold on the New York exchange provides coverage for out-of-network providers. To be clear, this means that anyone who buys insurance on the exchange in New York will get no coverage (that's NO COVERAGE!!!!!) for visits to doctors, labs or hospitals that are not part of the insurer's network. Most of the best hospitals are not, NOT in the networks. Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, the best cancer hospital in New York and probably in the nation is not part of the network for any of the policies sold on the exchanges. The NYU hospital is only part of the network for about a fifth of the plans. The hospitals from Cornell and Columbia Universities are only in about a third of the networks. Let's stop there. What this all means is that if a person with a policy bought on the exchange gets cancer, the chances of that person getting first rate treatment are very low. In other words, this person will not go bankrupt; he or she will just die.
It is important to remember that the issue is not only the hospitals. The insurance plans which omit the hospitals from coverage also omit the doctors who work at these hospitals from coverage. It is insurance for third rate doctors at third rate hospitals. Obamacare will really create a system under which only the wealthy will be able to get good healthcare coverage. For everyone else, the quality will be destroyed.
Okay, I want my liberal readers to stop yelling at the screen right now. I am not talking about death panels. Nope, I am talking about the actual insurance plans that Obamacare is selling.
Let's use a concrete example. Right now, in New York state, there are a fair number of insurance plans being sold on the exchange. In New York, the web site is fairly well functional. The biggest problem areas are those where the state site has to tie into the federal data bases. So far, so good. The problem, however, arises when one considers the nature of the policies being sold. Not a single policy sold on the New York exchange provides coverage for out-of-network providers. To be clear, this means that anyone who buys insurance on the exchange in New York will get no coverage (that's NO COVERAGE!!!!!) for visits to doctors, labs or hospitals that are not part of the insurer's network. Most of the best hospitals are not, NOT in the networks. Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, the best cancer hospital in New York and probably in the nation is not part of the network for any of the policies sold on the exchanges. The NYU hospital is only part of the network for about a fifth of the plans. The hospitals from Cornell and Columbia Universities are only in about a third of the networks. Let's stop there. What this all means is that if a person with a policy bought on the exchange gets cancer, the chances of that person getting first rate treatment are very low. In other words, this person will not go bankrupt; he or she will just die.
It is important to remember that the issue is not only the hospitals. The insurance plans which omit the hospitals from coverage also omit the doctors who work at these hospitals from coverage. It is insurance for third rate doctors at third rate hospitals. Obamacare will really create a system under which only the wealthy will be able to get good healthcare coverage. For everyone else, the quality will be destroyed.
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