OK friends, the vacation is over. It's time to get back to public option activism. A recent brush with employer-based junk insurance provided yet another argument for a public option that has open enrollment regardless of employment status.
This is not going to be a long diary. Sometimes one can make a point without need a lengthy discourse.
Recently I became aware of the health insurance plans offered by a contract employment agency that places personnel in high tech conulting jobs. The agency offered a choice of two health insurance plans. Each had a $3000 deductible. The problem is that if an individual requires $3000 worth of medical care, such an individual would probably lose the hourly job. Then the person's income would fall below the level of the mandates. The deductible is set such that the individual can almost never have access to the insurance.
This is just another reason why we need an open enrollment public option. Hourly workers need access to stable, low-deductible coverage and not be forced into purchasing insurance that is designed to never be applicable.
Recently Bob Herbert wrote in the NY Times that one third of all unemployed workers above the age of 55 have been unemployed for more than one year. Unemployment among older workers will persist as long as employers fear that they will add to the cost of employee health insurance premiums. One way to prevent such age discrimination is an open enrollment public option. If older workers do not have to ask an employer for health insurance coverage, one obstacle in the hiring process will be removed.
So it's time to get back to work. The health insurance law has not addressed the need for many workers to ave access to an open enrollment government health coverage plan.