According to frequently cited report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, thanks to the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rule in PPACA, health plans in the United States will be sending an estimated $1.3 billion in premium refund checks to individuals and business plan subscribers by the end of August. That’s a hell of a lot of money, and Kossacks know that’s one of the key reasons why the PPACA challenge was even before the SCOTUS this year.
Some, including myself, have begun to speculate on how Republicans are going to message a convincing response to this windfall—frankly I’m not sure it’s all that important, given the capacity for cognitive dissonance the average conservative appears to have.
Still, what would happen if every progressive -- or even every reasonable person -- who received one of these refund checks in the next month pledged to pass part or all of it on to Obama’s reelection campaign, or to another deserving progressive candidate? How much of that $1.3 billion could we divert to future reforms in healthcare and campaign finance? And what impact would that make on all our lives?
To get to the bottom of these questions, I have crafted a simple petition on Change.org calling on voters to reinvest this short-term gain into a longer-term vision of progressive change.
Text of the pledge:
This petition calls on progressive voters to pay forward some part of this short-term gain to support a longer-term vision of progressive change.
The Pledge
"We the undersigned promise to sign over some portion, however small or large, of any health plan refund checks received in 2012 to the election campaign of a politician at the local, state, or national level who fully supports the spirit and intent of the Affordable Care Act.
We owe it to President Obama and the other architects of this remarkable legislation. We owe it to everyone who fought and sacrificed to make it happen. We owe it to those who have suffered or died because of the lack of safe, effective, and affordable healthcare. We owe it to ourselves."
If you think this idea has potential, or even support it on principle, please sign the petition and mention it to your friends. I'd also welcome any feedback.
[https://www.change.org/...]