House Health Care Reform Bill

I don't want to get into a lot of detail describing a moving target, but I want to note some key features of the House bill that caught my eye:

• The public option and the exchange kick in during 2013. Individuals will then be required to have insurance. Subsidies provided up to 400% of poverty level.
• Ends unwarranted rescission immediately.
• Limits pre-existing condition look-back to 30 days immediately. Eliminates pre-existing in 2013.
• Eliminates lifetime benefit caps immediately.
• Allows parents to keep children on their policies until age 26 immediately.
• COBRA is extended until the exchange with a public option is running.
• Creates a $5 billion fund immediately to subsidize people who can't get health insurance due to a pre-existing condition.
• Creates a long-term care insurance public option immediately.
• Requires the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices starting in 2011.

These are all great things. The health insurance public option gets all the attention, but the last two items impress me just as much.

I think people underestimate how important long-term care insurance is. People carry life insurance as a matter of course, but you have a much greater chance in any given year of becoming permanently disabled than dying. Many people have disability insurance through their employers, but that only guarantees (a percentage of) your pay, which presumably covers your current expenses. It doesn't address the additional costs you will face if you need in-home care. Without long-term care insurance, someone will have to stay home with you, depriving the household of their income. But long-term care insurance is expensive. Bottom line: This is a great benefit.

The government negotiating drug prices will also have positive society-wide effects. Prescription medications are one of the main cost drivers of the health care system. I would bet that this change will result in more cost savings in the long run than covering the uninsured through the public option.

As I said though, we'll see how much of this gets enacted.

(Via Big Baby Blue Blogspot Blog.)