A few moments ago, the President signed the first part of his promised healthcare reforms into law. I have heard many loud voices in opposition to these changes and a question comes to mind. Was it necessary to make all of these changes by legislation ?
I'm afraid that the answer is yes and no. Changes such as removal of lifetime and annual limits, forbidding insurance companies to drop your coverage if you get sick and the elimination of pre-existing conditions are all necessary to work towards limiting the damages caused to families by personal bankruptcies due to medical bills. It is unfortunate that these changes had to be forced upon the insurance industry because they could have instituted these changes themselves, without legislative action. It was their own refusal to do what was needed and wanted by the public that forced the present situation.
There are enormous profits to be made from healthy people, not sick people. Unfortunately, this is not how insurance is supposed to work. The risk is not being spread among all subscribers as it should be if the ill cannot buy insurance or are dropped from coverage if they become sick.
Questions that I have not heard adequately asked or answered are, how much are these changes going to cost versus the costs to the economy of the personal bankruptcies due to uninsured medical expenses? How much money will be saved by more people being able to see and pay for a doctor's visit compared to the cost of an uncompensated emergency room visit?
The truth is that no one really knows how this will all shake out. To toss what has been done in favor of the status quo, before giving the new legislation a chance to work and be tweaked, is short sighted and irresponsible way to run a country or a business.
Was all of this necessary? Yes because the health insurance industry refused to do what their customers asked for and therefore forced a huge financial burden upon those customers, often destroying the lives of those customers in the process.
Are the newly instituted reforms all the correct ones? I don't know but, they must be given a fair chance to succeed or fail before a proper judgement can be rendered. Let's give them that chance.
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I think it is about time we had some health care reform in the country. I am frustrated that so many people were against this change being made. Having no health insurance myself, I see the need for a new system that allows everyone affordable health care. I feel that everyone should just play the wait-and-see game as to how this will effect all of us as there is no way of knowing at this time.
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