Well what else would you expect? The Courant reports the obvious in today’s article about the proposed Democratic Health Care plan. To put a price tag on the proposed plan, that would offer medical insurance to all people in Connecticut under 65, legislators took population numbers and multiplies by an estimated $4000 or $6000 cost per year. That came to to 11 billion and 18 billion respectively. And legislators were shocked.

Apparently math is not something that crosses the minds of polticos much. Some things are universal. But the numbers shouldn’t be all that surprising because the CBIA estimated that in 2004, businesses paid about $22 billion in healthcare premiums. Which means that the sums involved are huge and are already being paid. The question becomes, if the present system of insurance companies isn’t covering all the people that they should be (6% of CT is uninsured) and of those that are insured, many can’t get reimbursed for simple things, and that the doctors complain that the insurers never pay them, hen the system isn’t working for anyone but the insurance companies.

But we all kind of know that. I wrote about it back in December:

The truth about the health debate is that healthcare costs are beyond the control of government as long as the present system of private insurance is used to pay for basic health care. There is no debate that serious health issues require the common good of shared costs distributed through some form of insurance. But basic care that includes things like broken bones, colds and flus, sprains and allergies should be delivered in more cost effective formats. To start with, we need only look to the fast food industry to see how it could be done. Immediate medical care facilities that offer fixed price care for a menu of services. Fast, no waiting service and 24 hour service would fill the need to support people who have difficulty fitting in a visit to the doctor. The ability to refer more complicated cases that would invariably come in to other care givers whether hospital or private practice. Sure, there are more details to be sorted through, but the framework exists in other industries and once did for healthcare too. Manufacturing plants were once well aware that providing low cost on premise healthcare to its workers kept the plant productive.

But this scenario will not work as long as the payment for services trickles through the insurance middlemen. There is no incentive for health care providers to reduce costs when they have to play the game of filing paperwork in order to get paid. The insurance industry should be required to pay bills submitted by these facilities immediately. Let them figure out how to account for the usage and payment caps per health plan, but eliminate the administrative costs. Those that are uninsured would still receive care, but that should be subsidized by the employers who don’t provide affordable healthcare insurance to their employees. Much as the state requires companies to pay unemployment insurance, the state should require corporations to pay healthcare insurance taxes based on payroll and claims. This would incent those companies that employ thousands but in shifts that never offer enough hours to qualify for the benefits of full time employment.

To point of my scenario is not to offer a full scale health care solution, typed in the early morning after reading a few news articles, but rather make the point that new thinking and specific problem solving is sorely needed. The vague and ambitious terms of universal health care lead to debates that fail to address the real world issues that affect all of us in Connecticut. Affordable basic care should be available to everyone, and under our health care insurance system its not.

The Courant conveniently frames the issue as being one that will cost too much. Nothing is mentioned of how to fund the plan, because going there would mean acknowledging how much we already pay for the broken system.

In a year when legislators pledged to cure the state’s health care ills, the most ambitious plan of all would have the state fund coverage for everyone in Connecticut under age 65.

But a staggering price tag - as much as $18 billion - left the plan on life support Monday, and legislators are virtually certain to pull the plug.

The cost is slightly more than the entire state budget proposed by the governor.

Without a cost affixed to it, the so-called single-payer plan was approved 12-7 by the legislature’s insurance committee last month. It is awaiting action by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated the costs at $11.8 billion to $17.7 billion, depending on variables. Gov. M. Jodi Rell has proposed a state budget of $17.5 billion.

The estimate sent shock waves through the state Capitol Monday, prompting key legislators to say that passing universal health care this year is unrealistic.

source: The Courant, Health Plan Sticker Shock, By CHRISTOPHER KEATING, April 10, 2007