Mandatory Health Coverage in Massachusetts
I read this article and a number of items jumped out at me that made me believe AmeriPlan® has the best benefits coverage available. First to be forced into an insurance plan by law that costs a person more than they can afford because they are slightly out of the subsidy income level is scary. Then to be penalized with a fine up to $1068 per year because you don’t want to buy that over priced insurance is worse. Then knowing that over 100,000 people paid the fine to avoid buying the mandatory (unaffordable) insurance is ridiculous.
Check this out and form your own opinion.
The article also talks about President Obama’s national health care proposals. If this is what we, as Americans, can look forward to from our government imposed coverage then it will not be a good day in the USA.
Edited from an AARP Bulletin article, Lessons from Massachusetts, by Patricia Barry (May 2009)
In 2006 MA enacted a landmark law requiring all residents to have health coverage by July 2007.
MA’ biggest success is in having drastically cut the uninsured rate to 2.6 percent – by far the lowest in the country. The program subsidizes people with 2009 income of up to $32,508 for individuals and $66,168 for a family of four. Nobody can be denied insurance or charged higher rates because of health status or preexisting conditions. And while coverage is mandatory – with penalties of up to $1068 a year for adults who don’t comply – people who can’t afford the offered plans can apply to the Connector Board for a waiver from the penalty.
…the state has not yet attempted to control costs, which are ballooning.
Those eligible for subsidies “have benefited tremendously from the reforms,” says Diane Archer… But among those with incomes above the subsidy level, “about 60,000 have been able to demonstrate that [the plan choices] aren’t affordable for them and have not had to pay a penalty, and about another 100,000 have chosen to pay the penalty rather than buy the insurance.”
Residents ages 50 to 64 are among those feeling the pinch most, because the law allows insurers to raise premiums as people age. “…an example, a woman who paid $422 a month when she signed up in 2006, when the law took effect. When she turned 55, her premiums went up 45 percent to over $600 a month.”
For consumers, the main issue is a fear of being compelled to buy insurance that’s not affordable….
Check the website: http://RickBreithaupt.onesimplecard.com for AmeriPlan® alternatives.
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