Commonwealth Choice & Care

[BlueDemKev]

Okay, I did some homework this morning. I studied the Mass. Health Connector website and I also called both CW Choice and CW Care and spoke to representatives from both.

First off, if a person is enrolled in Commonwealth CHOICE (meaning their income is above 300% of the FPL), and he/she suddenly loses their job (and thus cannot pay their monthly premiums), that person IMMEDIATELY becomes eligible for Commonwealth CARE, who's premiums are MUCH lower and Commonwealth CARE does NOT exclude applicants with pre-existing conditions. :applause: (Not sure what CW CHOICE's policy is on Pre-Existing Conditions, but I've emailed that question to them).

As for Commonwealth CHOICE, the plans offered on the Mass. Connector website are not the only plans available which meet the state's standards. Everyone is free to shop around for a plan which they like and the insurance carrier should be able to tell you immediately if a certain plan complies with Massachusetts' standards.

Yes, the CHOICE plans are expensive, but not unreasonably so. The plan I currently have thru my employer (Cigna Open Access Plus) charges a monthly premium of $1,320.00/mo. I pay about one-third of it, but if I lost my job and had to go on COBRA, I'd have to pay the entire amount. The benefits of Fallon Community Health Plan, which is available thru CW CHOICE, nearly match Cignas-OAP's. FCHP charges a monthly premium of $782.00, and that covers a family of four. Yes, that is high, but compared to $1,350.00 it's very reasonable. Obviously, it is still more advantageous to be covered under a employer's plan which pays most of their employee's premiums.

The CHOICE plans are operated by private for-profit companies, which is unfortunate. However, if the federal government creates non-profit health care cooperatives which are controlled by its members, would help push premiums down--somewhat.

However, the real problem is not the fact that these insurance companies operate for profit (most insurance companies profit margins have been well under 10% for the past several years). The problem is the cost of health care (i.e.--the medical fees) itself.

Getting health care costs down will take probably 15 to 20 years. Obama's plan would establish independent commissions to study health care expenses, etc. We need to get THAT work started immediately.

[ProSense]

1. "if the federal government creates non-profit health care cooperatives " If the

government offers a public option that will drive costs down considerably more than a co-ops, which in fact don't work.

The thing people forget is that the current bills in Congress are not the same as the Mass plan. There are similarities, e.g. subsidies, but the plans address cutting costs, which Mass' plan failed to do.

[BlueDemKev]

2. Public Option vs. Co-Op

As I've said in previous posts, I am all for a government option, however it appears we do not have the votes in either the House or Senate to pass it. I'd rather get something than nothing (as we did back in '94).

[ProSense]

3. Not true of

either the House or the Senate

[BlueDemKev]

4. Check the Vote Count....

As of last week, only 45 Senators support the public option. That's not enough to get it thru even if we use reconciliation.

Over in the House, the Blue Dog Coalition's leadership has said they will not vote for a bill which includes a public option. 53 of the 256 House Democrats are "Blue Dogs", which means we are well short of the 218 votes needed to get it thru the House.

Have new numbers come out which I am not aware of?