Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
In the current healthcare debate in the "House of Lords" known as the United States Senate they are trying every trick in the book to keep from having a robust public option to give Americans like myself with no health insurance a real choice from private insurance. Private insurance that has shown they will not deal with me. Why?? Because I committed the grave crime of coming down with Type 1 Diabetes.
Yes, because of that I was thrown off the coverage I did have and would have to pay over twice my mortgage payment to recieve coverage from private insurance. Never mind the fact that I diligently work hard to keep my sugar numbers within the 90-120 parameters over 80% of the time. Never mind the fact that I have not been forced back to the hospital in the almost three years since I contracted this disease and have only seen a doctor once. I paid for that visit out of my own pocket. Yes, like so many Americans I am damaged goods in their eyes and not worth the trouble. Indeed, like Rep. Grayson said, I should just "die quickly" in their eyes.
That is why I wanted single-payer so badly, a fair model that would have weighed all Americans the same no matter what their age or affliction. When I saw my own party and President gutlessly scrap that option before ever even sitting down at the table, I have held out hope that we will be able to have a robust public option that will cover me and folks like me and with worse afflictions fairly. I do not want a handout and will pay premiums, but just want premiums I can afford.
Now, in all their super-majority cowardice my party is doing all they can to stab me in the back on that measure too. My President has shown little leadership in demanding my Congress stand up for folks like me, and now they are eyeing a new strategy in scrapping a public option, the Federal Employees Model. I titled this post in the form of a question because I would really like input from others about how they feel about this model.
My main sticking point with this is that it is based on private insurance. Private insurance companies have already deemed me worthless in their eyes and I simply do not trust them to deal fairly with me:
The goal would be to provide a menu of private, nationwide insurance plans. The federal Office of Personnel Management would oversee them, conducting the same type of negotiation over benefits and premium prices that it does for federal workers.
The federal employees health plan offers workers an array of different private insurance plans, including preferred-provider networks and lower-cost HMOs. Several of the plans are national in scope — the most popular is a national Blue Cross plan — and benefits are portable, from state to state, and usually can be carried into retirement.
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.c...
So, am I wrong to fear the "private" aspect of this idea?? The main question I have is would I be able to depend on this "Office of Personnel Management" to negotiate a price I can afford from companies that have already shown they care little whether I live or die if I do not make a profit for them?? Will this mean when I reach retirement age instead of being able to depend on a program I would trust, Medicaire I would still be at the mercy of private insurance vultures??
You see, this would not be a public option. While it would have the "aura" of one, it would still leave the folks like myself who needed this legislation the worst at the mercy of those who had a big hand in creating the mess we are in with their greed. On the plus side, there would be some regulation involved. On the minus side, it appears that this idea could just be a ploy to score political points:
Although the insurance plans are all private, they have the aura of public insurance because the program is regulated by legislation, is overseen by a federal agency and serves federal workers.
Giving many Americans coverage similar to that of members of Congress is a politically potent — and potentially appealing — concept for both lawmakers and the people they serve.
While I must admit that some aspects of this idea do sound good to me, I simply do not trust private insurers to deal fairly with me even with oversight. Everyone knows how these companies can always find some loophole to "walk between the raindrops" when their profits are involved. Even with oversight, they are very good at avoiding accountibility.
My initial knee-jerk reaction is disappointment at this idea. I still believe we need a real option run by and provided by the government that is not for profit and would deal fairly with me to provide coverage I can afford. It still scares the hell out of me that I may be mandated to buy insurance I cannot afford from private insurance vultures.
Am I wrong to knee-jerk against this idea?? I would love to hear what others think about this and the pros and cons of this idea from others that may know more about this program than I do. Initially, I see it as yet another sellout by a party that seems to be holding auctions daily.