If You Like Your Health Care Plan.... You Can Keep It!

Probably the mantra for 2013. That has to rate right up there with the first President Bush oft quoted promise "Read my lips..no new taxes." The Affordable Health Care Act. I think the Unaffordable...would have been more accurate. And then there's their web site. I remember reading that the company chosen to run that site had been fired by Canada for various problems. Then after the site is an obvious debacle, the administration says they are going to get the very best people working on it. Too bad they didn't think of that before. Many say that the site is still not secure and people are still required to use it.
Then the President said again you could keep your old plan. The only problem is that the insurance companies had already scrapped those relatively inexpensive plans  for more expensive plans with much higher deductibles to comply with the law. In effect, these plans amount to "catastrophic coverage", with people paying for most of their care out of their pocket. I've heard that there are multi-billion dollar funds built into the law to make insurance companies whole if they have problems providing the coverage.

So, who wins? Perhaps the working poor, because they are suppose to get a tax break or subsidy to help pay for these plans. But, I've heard that many of them can't afford these plans..even with the subsidies.
Of course, insurance companies will make out.

So who loses? You guessed it...the taxpayer. Some have speculated that some insurance companies may go out of business because they are forced to sell plans that consumers can't afford. Well, if they do, I'm sure they will ask the gov't....the taxpayer, for a bailout.

I agree something had to be done about healthcare. This wasn't the answer. Perhaps they could have given a stipend or tax break to those below a certain income level that wanted to buy a healthcare plan.

Another flaw in their plan is that they want to put a lot more people into Medicaid. The problem there is that fewer and fewer health care providers are participating in Medicaid because their fees keep getting cut. In order to keep providers and attract more, they will have to increase those fees. Until they do, there won't be enough professionals to care for all of the new people.

More government news: The Post Office recently announced that they had ONLY lost $5 billion last year. Only....too bad the government can't be run like a business, with consequences for ill advised actions and inefficiencies.. And that brings me to a positive note:

As long as this country has great entrepreneurs, and we do...we will always prosper. And entrepreneurship is still the best way for many Americans to Succeed. Don't forget about my highly acclaimed book,
Patrick Gilligan Says Be Your Own Boss! Make it a great 2014!