(The caricature of Bill Clinton to the left is by the inimitable DonkeyHotey.)The Republicans have been making a big deal out of insurance companies canceling some insurance policies that don't meet the basic standards of the health care reform in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). They say the president lied when he said people could keep their current policies if they liked them.
That's not true. These few policies were nothing more than a scam perpetrated on consumers by the insurance companies -- and did not offer adequate insurance coverage for those consumers. The insurance companies could have brought the policies up to meet the new standards, but they chose not to. They decided to just cancel them (and now the Republicans are trying to blame the president for the actions of these insurance companies).
And sadly, former president Bill Clinton has fallen into the Republicans trap -- and seems to be accepting their lies as having some validity. Clinton says:
"I personally believe, even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got."
He is wrong. No one should be allowed to keep those inadequate insurance policies -- most of which are closer to a scam than a real policy to cover medical costs. What is going to happen when someone with one of those policies contracts a serious (and therefore expensive) illness? Many of them are going to have to declare bankruptcy and ruin their credit. The new standards imposed by Obamacare actually protects these people -- by requiring coverage of more medical expenses, and by capping the amount any consumer would have to pay out-of-pocket for medical expenses.
And it also protects the rest of us. How? Well, someone has to pay those medical bills that the consumers with inadequate policies incur. The hospitals can't afford to absorb those costs, and you can bet the insurance companies won't pay a penny more than they are required to pay under the terms of the policy. It's hard enough to get them to pay for the things a policy does cover.
That leaves the rest of us ordinary Americans to pay those costs. If those people with bad policies got their care in a public hospital, then we will pay through higher taxes. If they got their unpaid care in a private hospital, then the hospital will raise its prices and insurance companies will have to pay those higher prices (which means everyone will pay a higher premium).
Obamacare's basic insurance standards doesn't just protect the people who currently have inadequate insurance -- it protects all of us by insuring that we won't have to absorb those costs. Bill Clinton is just mistaken. These scam insurance policies must not be allowed to continue -- even if some foolish people still want them.
I like Bill Clinton -- but he is wrong on this issue.
