Eff this shit! Health care bills would end gender differences, keep age discrepancies

[Are_grits_groceries]

WASHINGTON -- The older you are, the more you usually pay for health coverage, and that's a difference likely to persist under the sweeping health care legislation that Congress is now considering.

The House of Representatives would permit insurers to charge older Americans twice what younger people pay. The bill that passed the Senate Finance Committee would allow premiums four times as high.

Yet the major House and Senate measures would end what many consider another longstanding, discriminatory practice -- basing rates on gender, which is now allowed in most states.

<snip>
"The people that are getting hammered the hardest in America are the people between 55 and 64," Wyden said. "These are folks that are essentially a decade away from Medicare, and they also are in a bad economy feeling some of the direct pain in getting laid off, because they are not in a position to get additional economic opportunities."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/77419.html
(there's a lot more in the article)

Older people who probably desperately need the coverage will have to pay more. They can now be covered, but will have to pay so much on a fixed income that what will be left? Unless the government provides decent subsidies, people will be screwn. I guess old is a pre-existing condition.

I thought the idea was to expand the pool to cover everyone, and that would help those who need coverage the most. As people moved from one group to another as they age, the premiums they paid earlier could be considered a down payment on the health care they might need later which would be more costly. Their premiums wouldn't rise a great deal.

I guess I was wrong. Silly me!

[eridani]

1. No other developed country permits this garbage

Not the wholly government controlled, nor the single payer, nor the ones that just regulate private insurance strongly.

[hobbit709]

2. As long as the insurance companies write the bills, we're screwed.

[Vinca]

3. Then they should allow people 50 and up to join Medicare.

I'm so disgusted. Last week I discovered New Hampshire had a new, "affordable" insurance program for small businesse so I called for a quote. We're 60 and 62 and self-employed. Our "affordable" insurance would cost $19,200 a year with a $5,000 deductible and all the usual exclusions and co-pays. Sometimes, during the dead of winter, we have off months where we don't even make enough to pay the premium . . . even if we gave up eating. This is ridiculous.

[Captain Hilts]

7. And it's higher insurance costs that discourages employers from hiring older employees when Ins. is

required.

[DrDan]

4. they had better realize this is a significant voting block . ..

it could swing the 2010 election to the right

[JoeyT]

5. This shouldn't be hard to get people to oppose.

It'll be hard to convince a lot of people that are disciples of IGM:FU they should pay a little more to take the load off people that can't afford to. Moral arguments are lost on some people so the easiest way is probably to appeal to their self interest. I mean, how do you counter "You're going to keep getting older too."?

[Captain Hilts]

6. THIS is the benefit of not having to buy insurance in other countries, such as Canada. nt

[JVS]

8. What's in this bill for anyone other than insurance companies?