I did not expect a great number of specifics in President Obama's speech last night, mostly just passion to pass real reform. But the President surprised me especially with a very important and specific provision that affects millions of Americans like me who have individual health insurance policies.
I have been following the health-care reform debate fairly closely but have pretty much assumed that most if not all the important reform will not actually be instituted for several years. Last night, I learned otherwise. In addition to the great idea of immediately providing a safety net to those uninsurables who might otherwise be wiped out by medical expenses, President Obama also stated:
As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most.
For those of us with individual policies, that is a huge improvement over what exists today where insurance companies use rescission to cut off even long term policy holders when they get sick. Unlike folks who are covered under large group policies, the insurance companies have stacked the deck against those of us who get their insurance on their own. I knew this provision was going to be part of reform but I expected it to be implemented down the road not off the bat and that's a great plus for those of us who might have been subject to rescission before the full plan implementation a few years from now.
While I wish Obama had been a more forceful advocate of the public option, he detailed some proposals that will go into effect immediately and so will be difficult to reverse down the road. Intriguingly, it might even be possible for the immediately available low cost catastrophic coverage to form an expandable nucleus for a solid public option to be implemented later. That nucleus will be there from day one and, like most popular programs be quite resistant to being in future years.
All in all, I feel the President did a good job of getting out of the defensive mode we've been in all summer. Let's keep the pressure on for a public option. With the Rethugs exposed as whiny uncivil brats for the world to see, I actually think they've made our job easier.