What is the truth about Health Reform?

Now that health reform is with us I thought it was worthwhile trying to summarize what I understand to be the truth about what it will mean. There are a number of pros and cons, and some areas that seem to be of equivocal benefit, depending on our personal views, so here is a brief summary...........

The positive aspects:

• 95% of legal US citizens will have health insurance, compared to 83% now - an increase of 32 million people
• Insurers cannot stop paying for people who are sick, even if they lose their jobs
• People with previously known medical conditions cannot be refused health insurance
• People who cannot afford health insurance will be able to obtain it relatively cheaply
• Medicaid will expand significantly, and children will be able to stay on their parents insurance until they are 26

The negative aspects:

• Most of the bill won't go into effect until 2014
• The costs will be about $94 billion per year for the first 10 years - but these will be more than covered by cost savings and tax increases
• Some states will have an increase in the cost of health insurance
• The Individual Mandate means that you either have to buy health insurance of have a $2.5% tax increase
• There is an extra tax on very expensive health insurance plans and for high income people

The equivocal issues:

• The public option is not an option
• More government involvement in healthcare, but remember that governments already pay for more than 65% of our healthcare, and hopefully this bill will reduce medical costs in the long run
• There is no federal money for abortion
• The extra regulation on insurance companies will probably increase costs, but will certainly increase quality, and will make sure that they spend at least 80% of their receipts on actual healthcare
• Doctors will have increased access to information about which treatments are most cost-effective
• Large employers have to offer insurance to all their employees or pay a fee

There are lots of other parts of health reform, but hopefully this very simple guide is helpful.