The eGrumps Dissembling Information of the Year Award (so far): To the House Committee which explained why private health care insurance will still be available under the pending Obama Health Care Bill (or at least one of the pending health care bills.)
Definition: Dissemble: To hide under a false appearance; to put on the appearance : conceal facts, intentions or feelings under a false pretense. To mislead.
The present bill ” protects current coverage — allowing individuals to keep the insurance they have if they like it – and preserves choice of doctors, hospitals and health plans.” The Summary posted by the House Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce and Education and Labor – July 14, 2009.
Page 16 of the House Bill: – “…the individual health insurer offering such coverage..” can continue to offer such coverage provided that “the individual health insurer offering such coverage does NOT enroll any individual…” after the first day the law becomes effective.
OK – you can keep your current coverage (without any changes or modifications, if the insurance company still offers it, and you want to pay whatever the premium is at the time you renew, but you will not be able to change coverage (even if you don’t need the previous coverage), or go to any other private insurance carrier, and if you leave a company to work for yourself you will not be able to buy individual plans from private carriers. Sooner or later, in the real world, the only option will be the government health insurance plan.
No mention is made of Medicare, which will be drastically cut back.
Is the House Committee report misleading? In a way, I think so – the impression is given that you can get private insurance coverage if you want to, but not really – what is actually said is that your ONLY option is to keep your present coverage, no matter what the price and the coverage you now have, or go to the government insurance plan.
For example, what if your existing policy offers preganancy coverage, but because of your age, you no longer need that type of coverage. Either you keep that policy as is, paying for coverage you don’t need or want, or go to the government coverage.
There can be no competition between private insurance carriers for your business – because you can’t enroll in a private plan with new or different coverage or with a different carrier. You can keep what you have, but that’s it. Is this clearly explained in the Committee summary? I don’t think so. It is a classic case of dissembling information by not fully explaining what is being done.
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