Honorable Mary Landrieu 3&4-4

[domehead]

And, although you did not mention it, there is the problem of an individual who purchases, or an employer who provides, health coverage which does not meet the criteria described in the bill. It’s easy to say an individual or an employer may remain with an existing plan even if it doesn’t meet that criteria, or purchase one that isn’t offered through the exchange, but the truth is that only those plans “certified” by the Health Choices Administration (catchy name for one of the new, exploding bureaucracies) will be deemed to satisfy the mandate of universal coverage. What does that mean?

If you like your existing plan and keep it, but it doesn’t meet the criteria because of some internal change (such as co-pay level) or after 5 years, as the case may be, then you will be deemed not to have a qualified plan and – if an individual – will be hit with a 2.5% surtax on your income every year, in addition to the premiums you are paying for your existing coverage. Same thing for the employer who is currently providing coverage to his employees, but who – after 5 years – does not modify that coverage to meet the criteria for certification – that employer gets tagged with a bill for 8% of payroll, despite providing full coverage.

Senator, let’s cut to the chase: get the government out of health care while you can. We’ve already got Medicare/Medicaid/VA/etc., and they are horribly troubled, to say the least. These new boondoggle bureaucracies will fare no better. The federal government does not need to inject itself further into the issue, it needs to create reasonable, responsible guidelines and a frame work for reformation of the private sector, and let that private sector modify itself. Keep legislative oversight, by all means. Create deadlines and provide for stiff fines for non-compliance, too. Mandate coverage for the true basics. Acknowledge those individuals and employers who already have coverage by leaving them the hell alone. Don’t take the H.R. 3200 approach and make it so damn difficult to correct the problems we do have, by creating a largely unintelligible 1000 page set of counter-intuitive provisions with a whole new host of problems, regulatory and practical.

Unleash the power of the market by allowing all health insurers to offer any/all policies nationally, without regard to state lines. Instead of creating this massive new federal system for selling insurance through the “exchange,” let any national entity that wants to do so to offer policies and plans it establishes with private insurers consistent with a reasonable mandate on basic coverage. If health insurance was offered at places such as Sam’s, Costco, J C Penney, Sears, and so on, just as other types of insurances currently are, every individual could literally walk in, sigh up and have coverage. Employers would be free to negotiate for themselves for group plans or to establish or maintain existing ERISA plans, needing only to follow that same basic guidelines. If there is a problem paying for the premium, the individual could apply for federal subsidy using a form not unlike the current FAFSA for college loans and grants. A means test that already works is infinitely better than a new, untried one.

That’s about it, Senator Landrieu. I will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you to promote genuine health care and health coverage reform, but only if it privately based and eliminates as much of the government’s intervention as legally possible.

Thanks for listening.