It Was All A Game

The Washington Post, CNN, and other news organizations published long, in-depth articles about the 2017 Republican tax bill.  The most cynical man in Washington, Mitch McConnell, needed to find extra money for his tax cut.  And, of course, neither Mitch nor President Trump ever passed up a chance to attack the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  Eliminating the penalty for those people who failed to purchase insurance, the Individual Mandate, could free up as much as $300 billion.  (By the way, this is the very definition of cynicism.  Without the mandate, young and healthy people would skip insurance, prices would skyrocket, fewer people would purchase coverage, and the government would eventually save money since fewer people would get the tax credit subsidy help to pay their premiums!)  If you read the articles or anything else from that time, you will not find any mention of the tax bill making the PPACA unconstitutional.  Senators like Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) were still in discussions with their Democratic counterparts to strengthen other provisions of the law.

Senator McConnell was very aware of the dangerous game he was playing.  When asked in June of 2018 about the potential damage of the Texas lawsuit and the Trump administration’s position, Mr. McConnell said, “Everybody I know in the Senate, everybody is in favor of maintaining coverage for preexisting conditions…There is no difference in opinion whatsoever”.   But Mitch had years and years of actions that directly contradicted his words.  There were dozens of votes to repeal Obamacare.  There was the fictitiously named Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.  And that brings us to today.

The Trump administration filed its brief last night for the Supreme Court’s review of the Texas lawsuit.  Trump’s attorneys argue that the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act should be eliminated.  ALL OF IT.  The administration’s position is clear.  Guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions? Ditch it.  Preventive Care? Nope. Coverage for children to age 26? NO!  The law is irredeemable.  And they say it is all Mitch’s fault.

From Page 13 of the brief:

Nothing the 2017 Congress did demonstrates it would have intended the rest of the ACA to continue to operate in the absence of these three integral provisions. The entire ACA thus must fall with the individual mandate…

Our Republican friends have voted countless times to repeal Obamacare.  The Trump administration just called their bluff.  And yes, it is a bluff.  Always was.  There is no replacement waiting in the wings.  We are talking about nearly 20% of our economy.  We are talking about the way most Americans access and pay for health care.  And by the way, we are in the middle of a pandemic. 

The Supreme Court will hear this case in October and won’t render a decision until after the election.  How convenient.  This may be all a game for some of our elected representatives in Washington. But it is not a game that anyone with preexisting conditions wants to play.

DAVE

www.cunixinsurance.com

Picture – Right Game, Wrong Venue – David L Cunix

Paper Mache Armor

Our Governor, Mike DeWine, is on TV with Dr. Amy Acton, the Director of Health, almost every day.  The Ohio House and Senate are in session and working.  Having our government working for us could be a good thing.  There certainly is no shortage of issues for them to address.

One of those issues is Surprise Billing.  On May 20^th the Ohio House unanimously passed H.B. 388, the legislation specifically designed to address out-of-network care. The legislation was introduced in the Ohio Senate on May 26^th.  It should get passed and be signed by the governor next week.  The Bill is only 14 pages and if you promise to take a quick look I won’t feel compelled to review all of it here. 

The vast majority of H.B. 388 is devoted to the way out-of-network charges are defined and, more importantly, how the providers (doctors, facilities, ground ambulances, and clinical laboratories) will be paid.  There is a definition of the Benchmark or the fair market value for payment.  There is extensive verbiage related to negotiation and, if necessary, baseball style arbitration.  And as was reported in the newspapers, the consumer cannot be billed for the difference between his/her insurance plan’s reimbursement and the providers’ charges.

It looks great, but it is only paper mache armor.

H.B. 388 has the same gaping loophole as some of the other bills introduced in the Ohio legislature.  If you care to read along, turn to Page 6, Line 143 of the bill.  Let me summarize:

• For services covered by the health plan, but are provided by an individual out-of-network provider, an individual cannot be balance billed unless all of the following are met:

a)      The provider informs the individual that the provider is not in the covered person’s health benefit plan.

b)      They provide the consumer with a good faith estimate, including a disclaimer that they are not required to get the services at that location for from the provider.

c)       The covered person consents to the services.

There was no budge on this provision.  A requirement that the disclosure be made 24 or 48 hours prior to the procedure would have been useful.  A requirement that the fees be clearly stated with an explanation of how or why the final price could change with a limit to that change would have been useful.  A prohibition of sticking a form in front of a patient mere minutes before a procedure and “asking” for consent, would have been useful.  My guess is that we will be revisiting this in a year or so once the abuses add up to a point where this has to be taken seriously.  I am sure that the hedge funds that own some of the biggest offenders, the ones whose actions created the need for this whole discussion, will have their consent forms printed before Governor DeWine can affix his signature to the final bill.

Or not.  Those are my concerns.

But our representatives, our senators, and our governor are working to protect us.  I just wish they would take the time to make our armor of stronger stuff.

DAVE

www.cunixinsurance.com

Picture – Ready To Make My Shield – David L Cunix