President Barrack Obama spoke with the nation last week to set up an outline of what his health care reform entails, which in theory may help us get out of the recession that the United States is currently facing, and also make medical insurance available for everyone. The 2 most important points are that the President wants to ensure that all Americans have some type of medical insurance, and that there is a public health insurance alternative for the uninsured. There are several bills currently being discussed in congress, most of them are still in draft form. Some of the content in these bills would include:
- Not allowing the prices of premium rates to be increased on the basis of gender or health. It would be ok to increase the price of the premium based on age, although there would be limits on this also.
- There would be a cap on out of pocket expenses for covered expenses. This would be $5000 per person, $10,000 per family. You would need to receive your services in a hospital that was in the network.
- Medicaid would be expanded to include everyone with incomes up to 133% percent of the poverty level. This would be a very helpful benefit to those who qualify. At the present time, childless individuals are excluded unless they are disabled.
- Subsidize the cost of medical insurance for those folks who might be making more money, but not enough to pay the whole amount on their own. This would pertain to individuals making up to 3 or 4 times the poverty level. Right now, the poverty level for a family of four is $22,050. There would be a sliding scale in place to help cover costs.
There is variance in the bills as far as a requirement for employers to pay for insurance. The Senate bill would not have this requiem net. Others would, depending on the size of the company.
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