Health insurance premiums based on employer contributions are an absurdity. The health insurance companies have been able to take a lazy route in setting ins. premiums and getting stuck in their own mess. The current employer based group discounts are ridiculous. People actually can't leave a job due to their health state. When, you don't have a group discount, you get ungodly individual policy rates. This is a big reason that people don't buy any ins. in the first place. Imagine, ins. companies actually having to give good customer service to thier actual subscribers instead of having only to keep the employers happy with the lower ins. rates. The free market would then work and get the ins. companies to atually be able to lower rates as their pool of subscribers increase and be forced to lower them based on competition from each other and the gov't.
Ins. rates have no basis on actual risk and are dependent on actuaries working out numbers based on prevoius utilization. In other words, If your fellow employees are relative a sick bunch in terms of their overall health, you will have unbelievable ins. rates. This disconnect from your actual individual health state is unhealthy. Imagine a different basis of ins. premiums: rates based on your lifestyle habits in the same manner as your auto ins. rates. If you avoid tobacco, you get a discount. If you avoid alcohol, you get a discount. If you avoid drugs, you get a discount. If you maintain a healthy weight, discount. If you join a gym and actually go regularly, discount. If you get a regular physical, discount. If you have a safe driving history, discount. This would reconnect health habits and states to actual rates paid, and thus get your employer out of the ins. buying buisness which most are horrendous at in finding - after all, they are only looking for the lowest rates based on their bottom line.
IMAGINE: Three basic tenets,
A)require minimum health ins. to be bought by all. this will make the ins. companies happy and all of us would stop paying for this invisible universal health we already have and don't wish to acknowledge- thru cost shifting. we pay for those who end up skipping on thier bills.
B)Employers - ALL employers would have to pay a minimum health contribution based on hourly rates- In fact, keep it simple raise the hourly rate to include specifically (health ins. premium pay). This prevents freeloader employers such as walmart from employing people at just below the hours needed to become eligible for ins. coverage. There should not be an allowance for small employers- All people deserve the chance to get coverage- but they need to be able to buy it with the help of their employer!
C)Ins. rates based on lifestyle choices- this would reconnect our vices to our cost of care. Imagine paying higher rates forcing people to think about not overeating or overindulging, yet letting the free market aspect of this come to life, you can choose to overindulge all you want- if you are ready to pay for it.
This would end up giving the vast majority of those currently under or not insured a chance to buy ins. based on thier actual health.
All we would then need to do is beef up our ability to care for severley debilitating conditions-disasters thru a medicare type or even medicare system.
Barack obama needs to speak up and fight for this the spineless blue dogs need his cover to vote with him and a healthy bit of fear to avoid voting against him. He needs to tell the repubs to put up or shut up - and call their votes into question in the next election. Waiting to let each politician be bought out by the lobbyists is the absolute wrong move, There should not be a summer break - it can always be reascheduled!!! why is the public not atually demanding they get it together?