Junk Health Insurance is another Republican boondoggle. It is the HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) legislated into greater acceptance in 2003. Junk Insurance supposedly covers "catastrophic care", but people often find it covered nothing after the catastrophe. HDHP's and HSA's, are the healthcare darling of this regimeadministration. HSA's (Healthcare Spending Accounts) were supposed to restore better control to the health care consumer.
It's another lie that John McCain fully promotes.
Junk Insurance costs almost as much as the "Cadillac" plans. Junk Insurance has high deductibles and copays. Junk Insurance excludes and limits health care services. Employers decrease the coverage of their plans every year to stay within their budgets, which is pushing most of us from the comprehensive health insurance plans of 5 years ago into Junk Insurance today.
Healthcare Spending Accounts and Junk Insurance are Republican lies used to counter the call for Universal Health Care or a Single-Payer System. Here's a Primer on health insurance, page 5 (as shown on the document) explains risk pooling.
You can digg it or reddit and check it out over at cure this if you'd like.
The first lie is telling people that health insurance is health care.
The lie is saying consumers with health insurance don’t worry about health costs when 93 percent of consumers in a recent survey stated they are insecure about their ability to handle future health care costs.
The lie is saying that Obama will increase everyone's taxes to pay for his proposals. When the truth is that people earning up to $250,000 per year will find tax relief.
The lie is voters don't want Universal Health Care when 66 percent strongly favor or lean toward state-mandated health insurance. (See and repeat the first lie.)
The lie is saying health care tax credits will magically get everyone in the U.S. health insurance. (See and repeat the first lie, again.)
The lie is in advocating a "free market" system is good health care policy when the Commonwealth fund's metaanalysis of 4 years of their collected data showed:
The economic downturn is forcing working families across the United States to make tough financial choices, often involving sacrificing needed health care and health insurance. [Oh yeah, that first lie came into play here too.]
The lie is believing people can pay for the gaps in their coverage out of their own pocket. (One...More...Time for that first lie.)
Insurance coverage deteriorated over the past six years, with declines in coverage most severe for moderate-income families. As result, more families are experiencing medical bill problems or cost-related delays in getting needed care. In 2007, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults, or an estimated 116 million people, struggled to pay medical bills, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time, or were underinsured (i.e., were insured but not adequately protected from high medical expenses).
...should I beat the dead horse and mention....no, you get the idea...Arrrgh! I can't help it, read the first lie again.
The lie is touting Junk Insurance with a Flexible Spending Account is all the health consumer needs to pay for their healthcare.
Forty-one percent [41% in 2007] of working-age adults, or 72 million people, reported a problem paying their medical bills or had accrued medical debt, up from 34 percent, or 58 million, in 2005. An additional 7 million adults 65 and older also reported bill or debt problems.
The lie is pushing "smart" health care consumer tips when excercising these tips will lead to higher deductibles, higher out of pocket costs and less access to care. I love the advice at the bottom of this one:
#1 Maintain your health.
#2 Have enough savings for emergencies.
#3 Be prepared and have insurance coverage.
#4 Have a Plan B. Address your worst case scenarios.
Translation:
#1 Don't get sick.
#2 Be independently wealthy.
#3 If you can't be independently wealthy, then have a high paying job with "cadillac" insurance benefits and the money needed to pay all out of pocket costs.
#4 Sell your car, house and everything else so you can pay for your care. Worst case scenario: die.
McCain totally believes these lies and features them on his campaign's website. McCain, who has been covered by one U.S. government group insurance plan or another his entire life is pushing people into Individual health care policies ....like that's gonna help. The only time McCain was denied health care was when he was a POW in Viet Nam.
The truth is that Obama's health plan isn't Universal Health Care, but it's a damn sight better than McCain's.