The Amazing Maze of US Health Care

Washingtonpost.com

THE OBAMA administration and other advocates of comprehensive health reform knew that August was going to be a perilous month. It’s turned out to be disastrous. As lawmakers return to work and President Obama ends his vacation, the health reform enterprise is in rough shape. So what is the proper course of treatment?

Dr. Obama’s Toughest Patient – washingtonpost.com

NYTimes.com

The talk in Washington is that Senate Democrats are preparing to push through health care reforms using parliamentary procedures that will allow a simple majority to prevail in their chamber, as it does in the House, instead of the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster that Senate Republicans are sure to mount.

Editorial – Majority Rule on Health Care Reform – NYTimes.com

There is a group of people that has not been engaged in this debate about health care reform.

Yet the debate is about this very group of people – the uninsured.

But when the dust settles, the shouting is over, the ink is dry, and the regulations are in translation, those disengaged uninsured will emerge from their shells.  Like Punxsatawney Phil their heads will rise above their immediate struggles and they will check out the new climate for health care.

Will the sun shine and point the way for a brighter future for so many who have hidden in the burrows of our society?

Or will they see no discernible change and crawl back into an indefinite health insurance winter?

A recent report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute attempts to answer the question, how will the current reform proposals affect the number of uninsured.

It is full of impressive numbers, but offers insufficient concrete evidence that a “reformed” maze will be any easier to navigate than the current one.

One number is instructive.  Almost 30% of the currently uninsured are eligible for some form of public health insurance programs?  Half of those are children.  Why aren’t they enrolled? Read the rest of this entry »

The Pueblo Chieftain Online

The group recommends full assistance for those even twice above poverty level.

By JOHN NORTON
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Even if the unemployed and the working poor can afford some kind of health insurance, the money they spend on it means depleted savings, inability to pay for education for themselves and their children and other opportunity costs, according to a recent study of health care costs in Colorado.

The Pueblo Chieftain Online :: Study: Most can’t afford health care on their own

Weigh options carefully if you need to buy health insurance

by Linda S. Mah | Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO — As some families lose their health insurance and struggle to replace their coverage, they can find the options very confusing.

Insurance-industry experts say consumers should carefully consider their options and educate themselves before signing a new policy.

Some of the most common alternatives to major medical insurance include limited-medical, catastrophic and short-term insurance.

Weigh options carefully if you need to buy health insurance – MLive.com