“The House and Senate bills are both bad bills,” he wrote. “They do not go far enough in some areas and go too far in others.” Mr. Schlactus then outlined his concerns.
1. The price tag of the House bill is $1.2 trillion, but its cost is really at least $1.5 trillion, because it does not include a long-term fix to the physician payment system, which is being done year-by-year and would add $300 billion in spending during the term of the bill.
2. If premiums for the House bill’s public option are priced lower than current commercial insurance rates, as planned, it would create a financial incentive for employers to drop coverage, forcing many people into the public option.
3. To make the public option cost less than commercial insurance would mean offering skimpier benefits, raising the holder’s out-of-pocket costs or paying physicians and hospitals less. He predicts the latter would happen.
4. The 2.5 percent penalty for not buying health insurance is well below the cost of buying insurance, calculated at more than $300 per month per person.
Mr. Schlactus agrees that the current healthcare system has “some serious flaws,” such as insurance companies denying coverage for preexisting conditions. But he believes that “true healthcare reform must address the issues that impact health,” such as poor diet, smoking, obesity, drug use and lack of exercise.
Read the Oregonian‘s opinion piece by David Schlactus.
