The White House claims that no one will lose their insurance under Obama’s health care plan. They have a “reality check” page dedicated to the subject, headlined “You can keep your own insurance.”
At the same time, President Obama has promised to abolish high-deductible insurance plans. This isn’t some ancient campaign promise. It’s from a town meeting in Portsmouth, NH earlier this month:
Now, when we pass health insurance reform, insurance companies will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. And we will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because no one in America should go broke because they get sick. (Applause.)
And finally — this is important — we will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies — (applause) — because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and prostate cancer on the front end. That makes sense, it saves lives; it also saves money — and we need to save money in this health care system.
So this is what reform is about.
(Emphasis mine.)
I have a high-deductible health care plan, because as I see it as the one that makes financial sense. I can pay for typical, predictable expenses; there’s no need for me to run the money through an insurance company. I need insurance in case of major problems.
It’s just like all my other insurance. I’ll pay my electric bill myself; my homeowner’s coverage is in case the house burns down. But, if others want low-deductible plans, that’s their choice.
Unfortunately, Obama isn’t willing for me to make my choice. He promises to abolish high-deductible plans. In his very own words, he “will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care.” Those are exactly the sort of things I’d rather pay myself under my high-deductible plan, but my plan will not be permitted.
Next time you hear about the health care “myths”, remember who is spreading them. Out of one side of this mouth, he promises you can keep your insurance, but out of the other, he promises to take your plan away if he doesn’t approve of it.
(Via Volokh.)
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