In today's New York Times political blog, The Caucus, 
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is spouting off again about how Americans want "to preserve the choice and quality that our current system provides." Which Americans is he talking about?
I have been fortunate to occasionally enjoy some great health insurance over the years. That said, I never got to choose the plan and I never got to choose the doctors covered by the plan. Either my employer or my wife's employer picked the insurance company and picked the plan from that company's menu of options. They never consulted either my wife or I before doing so.
My wife is diabetic, so finding a good doctor is especially important to her. She does her homework when it comes to the doctors available under whatever plan we have to deal with. Unfortunately, like many businesses my wife's employer not only changes plans every year or two but frequently insurance companies as well. After finding a doctor she likes she frequently must switch doctors in January as the new policy her employer has chosen kicks in. Where is the choice Senator McConnell is praising in this scenario?
If we should ever be forced to shop for insurance in the individual market, my wife would have no choice whatsoever. As someone with juvenile diabetes no insurance company would give her a second look. If she ever suffered a serious illness related to her diabetes you, kind reader, would be forced to pick up the tab for her treatment through your taxes, higher premiums, or most likely both because we almost certainly could not afford to pay the medical bills out of pocket. I guess Senator McConnell would argue this is something you would gladly pay by choice anyway.
As most workers can't choose their insurance company, can't choose the doctors that company covers, and can't get individual health insurance unless they are basically 100% free of any pre-existing condition, the only choice I can think of Senator McConnell could possibly be talking about is the ability of the health insurance companies and our employers to make all our choices for us. Again, which Americans want to preserve this kind of choice Senator McConnell?
5 comments:
I'm in the same boat as your wife. I have been diabetic since age 19, and I have been seeing the same doctor for the past 15 years. When I arrived at my most-recent visit earlier this year, the woman at the front desk said that my company's insurance no longer covers any doctors in the University of Utah Hospitals network. I ended up paying for that visit entirely out of pocket. I have insurance, but it paid nothing -- which is effectively no insurance at all.
I think Senator McConnell was referring to the Insurance companies' choice of which conditions and treatment they decide to cover, not your ability to choose. And by Quality he was referring to the quality of risk pools that insurance companies get when they don't have to cover everyone. C'mon, do your homework!
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I would like to see their statement against Democratic senators of "partisan politics" when judge Miguel Estrada was denied a seat in the Court of Appeals by the Democrats.
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