Now that Congress has so generously provided for health care reform, I am trying to figure out how it all adds up.
As a small business, I am paying US$700 per month for two people for absolutely bare-bones insurance through Kaiser. That's with a US$4,000 deductible, i.e., I pay $4,000 in any given year before insurance even kicks in. I assume few would consider this acceptable insurance, and those who cannot pay for insurance would probably also not be able to pay the $4,000 deductible.
So... the bill now expands coverage to 32 million folks who are currently uninsured. For the sake of the argument, since I am paying US$700 for two people, let's assume that really crappy insurance costs about US$350/month per person, or US$4,200 per year. Multiply that by 16 million, and the bill is US$67,200 million, or US$67 billion per year.
Since the cost of the bill over 10 years is said to be US$940 billion, my estimate seems on the mark since people will likely demand, and get, much better subsidized or free insurance than I can afford.
It's really good then to hear that according to the President, this bill will bring down our deficit by up to $1 trillion dollars over the next decade. I sure hope he's right on that one as a tax on indoor tanning probably won't make much of a dent.
I also wonder how the new bill will handle fat people who are not poor but still cannot get insurance on their own.
And whether I now will be able to get anything approaching real insurance for the US$8,400/year I pay for it.
As a small business, I am paying US$700 per month for two people for absolutely bare-bones insurance through Kaiser. That's with a US$4,000 deductible, i.e., I pay $4,000 in any given year before insurance even kicks in. I assume few would consider this acceptable insurance, and those who cannot pay for insurance would probably also not be able to pay the $4,000 deductible.
So... the bill now expands coverage to 32 million folks who are currently uninsured. For the sake of the argument, since I am paying US$700 for two people, let's assume that really crappy insurance costs about US$350/month per person, or US$4,200 per year. Multiply that by 16 million, and the bill is US$67,200 million, or US$67 billion per year.
Since the cost of the bill over 10 years is said to be US$940 billion, my estimate seems on the mark since people will likely demand, and get, much better subsidized or free insurance than I can afford.
It's really good then to hear that according to the President, this bill will bring down our deficit by up to $1 trillion dollars over the next decade. I sure hope he's right on that one as a tax on indoor tanning probably won't make much of a dent.
I also wonder how the new bill will handle fat people who are not poor but still cannot get insurance on their own.
And whether I now will be able to get anything approaching real insurance for the US$8,400/year I pay for it.
