[Missouri-l] FW: "A Daily Dose of Truth" (#3):

[Denny Huff]

"A Daily Dose of Truth" (#3):

The Requirement to Buy Insurance in Health Care Reform

Truth is witness to the whole.  One short sound-bite taken out of context --
even if it's a fact -- does not necessarily represent the whole truth. We
denounce the use of such sound-bites (from any party!) when they are
intended to pervert truth for electoral gain. In the end, we acknowledge
that a manipulation of facts to frighten and confuse vulnerable populations
is just plain immoral. 

[View this email online and share the link via FaceBook and other social
networks!]

Health care justice and the common good are best served when everyone is
actually IN a nation's system of health care. And that's the whole point of
the health care reform requirement for everyone to have insurance.

With everyone IN, we'll all have timely access to the benefits of health
care coverage rather than waiting until too late, or worse, getting no care
at all. With everyone insured, society-at-large partners with the health
care system to fairly distribute responsibilities, costs, risks, and
benefits.

The requirement to have insurance:

.              Protects all of us from the costs of medical care for
patients who can pay for insurance but refuse to do so. The subsidies will
be designed so as not to impose a burden greater than any one person or
family can bear.

.              Affirms the government's rightful role in regulation and
oversight on behalf of the public good.  It is an effort to get everyone
playing by the same rules, resulting in fair treatment for everyone in
return.  

Exemptions to the requirement for insurance: Persons exempt from the
requirement to have insurance will include:  those whose faith communities
object to insurance; those without coverage for less than 3 months; American
Indians; undocumented immigrants; those with hardship exemptions (for whom
the lowest cost plan available exceeds 8% of individual income); and those
who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but earn too little to file income
tax.

Penalties for not purchasing insurance: The Congressional Budget Office and
the Joint Commission on Taxation estimate that by 2016 only about 4 million
persons (1% of the population) will choose to pay the assessed penalty
rather than purchase insurance.  Two-thirds of those would qualify for
subsidies in the exchanges; the remaining third would be among the top 10%
of income-earners in the U.S. Those who choose not to purchase insurance
will pay a penalty that will help cover the cost of maintaining the health
system, including the cost of uncompensated care.  The penalties will begin
in 2014 and increase each year:  2014 - the greater of $95 or 1% of taxable
income; 2015 - the greater of $325 or 2% of taxable income; 2016 - the
greater of $695 or 2.5% of taxable income; beyond 2016 - indexed to the cost
of living.

What happens if the requirement to purchase insurance is repealed?  

.              Insurance costs would likely rise for everyone. In the
negotiations leading up to reform, this requirement was coupled with the ban
on the insurers' practice of banning persons from coverage because of
pre-existing conditions. The costs for adding persons with pre-existing
conditions will escalate if the enrolling the sick is not off-set with
healthy enrollees. (One interesting note:  A New York Times/CBS News poll
this week continues to show the usual split between supporters and opponents
of reform. However, once those who support repeal are told it would mean
ending the ban on insurance exclusions for pre-existing conditions, only a
quarter of repeal supporters hold their original position!)

.              The costs of uncompensated care will continue to increase
costs system-wide. Very few people travel through life without accessing the
health system at some point. The penalty for not purchasing insurance simply
helps offset the medical costs for those who are able but choose not to
purchase insurance, and then use the system without the ability to pay for
expensive care.

For more information:

Read the full statement from Faithful Reform in Health Care: Faith Values &
Responsibility in Health Care Reform.

View the Kaiser Family Foundation YouToons video, Health Reform Hits Main
Street, which includes a section that clearly articulates the relationship
between the requirement to buy insurance and the ban on insurers' exclusions
for pre-existing conditions.

Read the New England Journal of Medicine article, A Broader Regulatory
Scheme - The Constitutionality of Health Care Reform, which discusses the
constitutionality of the requirement to buy insurance.

________________________________________

A Daily Dose of Truth Online

#1:  Medicare in Health Care Reform

#2:  Health Care Reform and Home Sales

#3:  The Requirement to Buy Insurance in Health Care Reform

 

Deanna Noriega - Legislative Liaison

Services For Independent Living

1401 Hathman Place

Columbia, MO 65201

573-874-1646 x234

dnoriega at silcolumbia.org

 

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the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever   has.  Margaret Mead

 

 This material is for informational purposes only and its contents do not
necessarily represent the views of Services for Independent Living, a
non-partisan organization. 

 

 

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