I just received a newsletter from my health insurer, Tennessee Rural Health, that includes a not-so-veiled threat to members, all sole proprietors and individuals who pay for their own health insurance. The threat in summary: if the health reform bill passes, your rates will go up by as much as a third in order to pay for people who plan to scam the system!!!
Obviously, the newsletter was printed prior to the vote on the bill, and prior to Nancy Pelosi's vow that companies who take advantage of the situation will not be allowed in the exchanges. But its tone is troubling.
Specifically, CEO Lonnie Roberts warns us that:
"If you eliminate the pre-existing clause within our coverages, and don't miss this [his emphasis], we expect the premiums paid collectively by existing members would increase from $30.3 million to as high as $41.9 million annually. [...] As we understand the legislation now being considered-- and no one has indicated we're reading it incorrectly -- an individual could come to us tomorrow [my emphasis], regardless of health condition, and we would have to add them to our group immediately [my emphasis]. They could also, immediately, begin to receive health care services and then, having received the treatment or care sought, just drop our coverage. We might receive a month or two, maybe three, of premiums. In that scenario, who will pay the price? You, our existing members who have been paying premiums for many months or years will."
He goes on to explain that anyone would be crazy to pay for mandated coverage since the penalty will only be $400 and they wouldn't have to get coverage until they needed it.
While his tone is certainly one of fear-mongering and doom and gloom, and he makes liberal use of half-truths, he does make some good points. I do expect my premiums to go up a bit as this is all sorted out. (The reason we chose the plan was because it is quite a bit cheaper than going to Blue Cross directly for the same coverage...and the reason TRH can do it is by only signing on relatively healthy people.)
He also mentions, and I agree, that there need to be some type of rules about open enrollment periods or other safeguards to make sure people stay enrolled. But this hyperbole is dangerous and I expect we'll be hearing more like it in the coming year. All the more reason for Congress to keep fine-tuning the law in the future.
Update: Link to the newsletter: http://www.trh.com/...