Senate HC bill

[Trek]

Wonder how they'll deal with Americans retired abroad who have health care already. I assume (probably shouldn't) that if you're not a resident and don't have to pay US income tax, you won't have to buy US health insurance.

But more interesting would be folks (retired or otherwise) that have foreign healthcare but are US resident for tax purposes. For example, say you spend part of the year in Mexico at your condo and pay into the Mexican healthcare system and have all your medical problems treated there. However most of the year you live at your permanent residence in the US. Will you have to buy expensive US healthcare by law? Or would proof of foreign health insurance satisfy the mandate?

[teejayevans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo As I understand it, the delay was a way to make the cost numbers look more palatable. The funding mechanisms go into effect three or more years prior to the benefits kicking in to allow the build up of a "bank account" for the programs. Without this, the advertised ~$900B cost of the program over the next ten years would be substantially over one trillion, making the bill even more difficult to sell to the public and unacceptable to Obama.

But the reforms: no longer excluding coverage based on pre-existing conditions, premium limitations of 3:1 based on age, health insurance
exchanges for individuals doesn't cost any money??
If it passes as is, wait for sometime before 2012 election when you'll
see stories of people unable to get health insurance.
TJ

[ziggy29]

I just hope all those bribes special promises to secure sweetheart deals to get those last few votes are burned at the stake in conference. That wasn't one of the finer moments of the sausage-making process.

[oliverdickens]

Can someone please explain what the Re-insurance for Retiree Health Insurance Plans provision means? States that early retirees will be provided immediate re-insurance access to employers health plans that provide coverage for early retirees.

We are currently covered by my former employers self insured plan which offers some but very limited coverage at a high price. ie $650/mo for both of us with no coverage for doctors visits, $2000 ded, no drug coverage, $1mm limit. Premiums increase about 10% each year.

Will this provision improve anything. Makes no sense to me, but sure someone can explain.

Thanks

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliverdickens Can someone please explain what the Re-insurance for Retiree Health Insurance Plans provision means? States that early retirees will be provided immediate re-insurance access to employers health plans that provide coverage for early retirees. We are currently covered by my former employers self insured plan which offers some but very limited coverage at a high price. ie $650/mo for both of us with no coverage for doctors visits, $2000 ded, no drug coverage, $1mm limit. Premiums increase about 10% each year. Will this provision improve anything. Makes no sense to me, but sure someone can explain. Thanks

The 'self-insured' employers providing retiree insurance normally carry all of the risk themselves. That is, if a retiree comes down with a really expensive medical problem, the self-insured employer has to come up with the cash to cover the insured portion of the bill.

The proposed legislation allows for something called re-insurance, which lets the employer buy insurance against an unexpected expense in the employers own coverage of retirees. This Re-insurance for Retiree Health Insurance Plans provision is transparent to retirees. The biggest effect is that it would make the former employer much less likely to cancel retiree coverage, as the employer could participate in a larger risk pool, the re-insurance pool, to reduce their risk and make the financing of retiree insurance more predictable.

[oliverdickens]

Thanks so much for the response on re-insurance. Appreciate it and was very helpful.

I can see this being helpful on one hand, but except it will be another lever to increase individual premiums as someone will have to pay for the re-insurance.

The gamble will be, as with all insurance, extra cost for premiums might be less if several issues in pool occurred, but imagine there will be a limit established with re-insurance so those costs will be more affordable.

Will be interesting to see, if this thing passes as is, and if my company selects this option, how much more above the normal 10%/month our premiums will increase.

I also expect companies to dump the retireehealth insurance benefits should other options become available to those retirees. Why would they even want to deal with it any more?

[REWahoo]

Moderator note: This discussion moved from the nuts and bolts and finances of the health care bill into a discussion of partisan politics. Those posts have been removed.

If you'd like this thread to stay open, please refrain from further political comments.

[REWahoo]

OK, political posts deleted, thread closed.

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