LUBENOW GOES TO WASHINGTON

I will be traveling to Washington this week to discuss our health care issues with our NJ Congressman and Senators. I have meetings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with Congressman Adler, Andrews and LoBiondo. I will also meet with Senators Menendez and Lautenberg to discuss how we may be able to get some form of legislation passed that will benefit everyone. I will publish updates to let you know how these meetings go.

LUBENOW GOES TO WASHINGTON

I will be going to Washington for my seventeenth year to find out what the latest is on Healthcare Reform. I plan on having meetings with Congressman Adler, Andrews and Lobiondo. I will try to also see our two Senators if my schedule permits. I will be supporting many of the key issues that will help improve our healthcare and make health insurance more available to everyone. The question that I would love to hear an answer to is "How are you planning on reducing the cost of healthcare without cutting our level of care? So far no one has been able to answer this question. Stay tuned, I will report after I return on March 12th.

DO WE REALLY NEED HEALTHCARE REFORM???

Yes! Yes! Yes! Everyone agrees that we need some type of healthcare reform. President Obama wants healthcare changes that will protect the American public such as: No Limits on coverage, no pre-existing conditions, no medical underwriting, guaranteed issue, no premium rate up do to health conditions and insurance companies cannot cancel coverage if you get sick. I think that all of these conditions are needed throughout the country. We have these protections now in the state of New Jersey, however, in several states people are unable to get health insurance with pre-existing conditions. The President also keeping saying that we need “affordable” insurance. What is affordable?
In Massachusetts where there is a mandate that everyone has health insurance the rates are $300 to $600 per month for a single and $1000 to $2800 for a family. Is this affordable?
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released the latest numbers for the cost of health care in the U.S. for 2009. The total was 2.5 trillion dollars. That equals just over $8,000 per person in the country. If you were the federal government and wanted to provide healthcare to everyone in the country, how much would you have to tax or charge everyone to be totally covered from birth to death? This is the point that everyone should understand when they say we need a single payor system. Someone has to pay for this. Probably 50% of the country or more would not have to pay anything based on income, now how much do you tax the people that can afford to pay? These are the difficult questions that have to be answered.

Washington is Coming Up With Some Crazy Recommendations!!!

The last two new proposals out of Washington, let people at 55 years old buy into Medicare and allow insurance companies to put annual limits on health insurance. The problems with these two recommendations:
MEDICARE AT 55: This sounds great to allow people that need insurance coverage to get Medicare before the age of 65, however, they would have to buy both Part A and Part B of Medicare. At age 65 Part A is free and Part B has a premium that starts at $110/month. If you have to pay for Part A the premium is $450/month. Now you have to purchase a supplement policy with a Part D drug card for approximately $200/month. The total cost will be around $750/month, what a deal!!!! A husband and wife together could spend $1500/month and still have the donut hole to cover of $4550 each if they are on several medications. We are talking about potentially $30,000 per year for health insurance. What if they still have children covered on their health insurance? There would be no coverage for the children.
A survey of doctors respond that if more people are allowed on Medicare they would stop taking on new Medicare patients. Doctors are reimbursed a lower rate from Medicare and could not continue their practice if they start to get more Medicare patients.
Has everyone forgotten that Medicare is going broke and now they want to allow 34 million more people to participate. Great, lets go bankrupt sooner!!!!
ANNUAL LIMITS ON HEALTH INSURANCE: One of the most important issues that the President wants is no limits on health insurance coverage. Why would they allow an insurance company to establish annual limits on coverage. Someone could still go bankrupt if they met their annual limit and still needed tens of thousand or hundreds of thousands more healthcare.
These are just two more of the crazy suggestions that are coming out of Washington. This is what happens when people that have no idea about health insurance, yet they are going to revamp the future of our healthcare. What is next!!!!!

Do We Really Need Reform???

YES!!!!! YES!!!! YES!!!! Everyone agrees that we definitely need some form of reform. Many of the key proposals are already in affect in NJ. Guarantee issue with no medical underwriting, no pre-existing conditions, no limits on health insurance and no dropping someone if they get sick. The one main sticking point is the Public Option. The insurance companies cannot compete against the federal government if the government reimburses doctors and hospitals at a lower rate than the insurance companies do. These basics that everyone agrees to should definitely end up in the final legislation, the public option is still very questionable.

Do We Really Need Reform!!!!!!

YES! YES! YES! Everyone in the insurance industry agrees that we definitely need some form of reform to control the ever increasing cost of healthcare. What is needed in this big debate. Below are some of the major issues that must be resolved.

1. We need to guarantee coverage to everyone that applies for insurance. No medical underwriting.
2. No pre-existing conditions, provided you maintain coverage and don't wait till you are sick and try to purchase it. Like getting in an auto accident and trying to get auto insurance after the accident.
3. No dollar limitations on the amount of insurance that is covered on everyone's policy.
4. No canceling of insurance policies when someone becomes ill.
5. To accomplish these basic principles we need to implement a strong individual mandate that requires all individuals to be covered. If insurance companies will have to insure everyone that applies we also need to get the younger healthier people covered. If only the people with pre-existing conditions get covered then the rates would just continued to sky rocket.

One positive note is that all of these principles that have been suggested, are currently in place in the NJ individual and small group marketplace. NJ has let the way for the past 15 years.

"AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE"

What is "Affordable Health Insurance"? The President is constantly stating that he wants to have affordable health insurance. I looked up the rates in the state of MA where they have mandated health insurance for all individuals. The rates there have grown substantially since this was introduced two years ago. An individual has plans available from $250/month to $600/month. The lowest cost plan has a $2000 deductible and limited number of doctors participating. The $600 plan is a full 100% type of plan. For a family the rates range from $1000/month to $2500/month. This is what we can expect if we mandate insurance and offer a "public plan" to everyone. Please Mr. President, start telling people what you mean by "Affordable Insurance". Give them the numbers. Last year when interviewing people in their late 20's and asking why they don't have health insurance because it is only $70/month, their response was I don't see a reason to spent $70 when I never get sick. Now the President is offering you "Affordable Insurance" for only $250/month. Doesn't sound so affordable when you tell them the cost, does it.