Working my side of the fence, I can compare plans from different employers of alll types and see how they stack up. Trust me, lots of employers have better plans than the offerings given by the insurance companies to their employers.

The HDHP and HSAs are different for most members to handle because they encourage you to shop around and become educated. Not just the ‘fire and forget’ of the HMOs.

I guess what I’m thinking is if the health plan for the president, Congress, and other federal employees are so good, why not try to emulate it as much as possible for all employers? If such a plan would be too costly, even by providing such benefits to employers in the form of a business tax cut, then frankly, the federal government needs to change their own health care plan. In fact, as voters, we should demand it. In other words, if we are not entitled to the same benefits that the president and Congress get, they shouldn’t get it either.

My Sarcasm aside, Insurance companies would be more than happy to have large groups of people insured. Large companies spread their costs out among their members, lowering it overall.

How would such an ‘insure everyone’ plan work though? Bidding between companies? Would it be an entire nation on one plan, or would you divide among carriers? Would it allow (for example) one to get a private HMO that would cover expences beyond what the ‘basic plan’ would cover?

How would appeals be handled? For example, we have two levels of internal appeal and then an external review as our default option, though some employers prefer to do their appeals themselves.

would it be an administrative contract plan? (You pay the insurance company to administer benefits, but those benefits come out of your pool) or would it be a fully insured plan (The insurance company pays the costs directly, but you pay a lot more in premiums)? Would the government say “You can’t make more than X profit?” Lots of questions, and this is from a plan that isn’t ‘trust us we’re the government.”

What I see is federal government employees, including all Republicans in government getting an excellent health care package. One that they (and probably most Democrats as well) don’t want the rest of America to have. It may be symbolic, but I wonder if it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if, without a raise in their salary, just have their health benefits cut. I honestly don’t think hardly anyone in Congress gets what’s going on in health care, because they take it for granted.

So right now we have a significant portion of Congress saying, “Gee, having health care being paid for by the federal government is such a bad idea, but I’m not going to do anything about getting rid of my cushy health care package.”

How is this going to be paid for.

Excellent question. Most employers pay a good portion of health benefits. Granted, some small employers can’t afford it, for among many reasons, they have to pay taxes. So why don’t businesses get tax relief equivalent to the amount of the cost for health benefits, deductible only if the employers use it for health benefits? I’m sure there is a reason why this won’t work, that’s why I’m asking questions here.

Every American should be required to pay something into that system so it will naturally help to control costs.

This is one thing I am sure about. There has to be some fee to use any medical benefit to control costs and abuse.

So glad that he’s no longer Travis County DA.

Regards,
Peter H.

So Gene, would you be supportive of a health care reform where all persons get the same health care that Obama and Congress get?

Unbelievable. It’s just one shameless lie after another. Disgusting.

Let freedom ring!