THE HOUSE-PASSED HEALTH CARE BILL SCARES THIS 90-YEAR-OLD GEEZER

President Trump says the bill will lower premiums, but with many healthy Americans opting not to obtain health insurance, those premiums could actually go up

By Howie Katz

Big Jolly Politics
May 10, 2017

As a 90-year old geezer, health insurance is very important to me. Fortunately, I am in a very good Medicare Advantage Plus plan that was negotiated by the Texas Employee Retirement System (ERS) with a major health insurance provider.

When Obamacare was passed, the law consisted of 828 pages with more than 20,000 pages of regulations added. Who in Congress actually read all that? And if they had, how much of the bill would they have understood? The truth is that many members of congress who voted for the Affordable Care Act really didn’t know what was in the bill.

President Obama promised that Americans would be able to keep their health plans under Obamacare. He also promised they would be able to keep their doctors. Both promises turned out to be untrue.

Affordable Care Act was a misnomer. While the poor obtained health insurance with the government subsidizing their premiums, other Americans saw their health insurance costs rise.

While Obamacare turned out to be a bad law, some parts were good. Coverage for pre-existing conditions comes to mind.

Which brings me to the health care bill just passed by the House. It scares me! Even though the bill consists of relatively few pages, it was rushed through the House. That is not good.

President Trump says competition by health insurance carriers will lower premiums. That’s questionable. Making a promise like that is akin to Obama’s promises on keeping one’s health plan and doctor.

Many healthy Americans will opt not to obtain health insurance under the House bill because Obama’s mandate will no longer be in force. That will leave the insurance carriers covering those who are not in the best of health and the elderly with their old age ailments. And that is going to raise insurance costs.

I’m pretty sure Obamacare did not affect my ERS health and drug coverage plan. I’m not so sure about the House bill should it ever become law. Hopefully the Senate will make some changes that all Republicans can live with, changes that will not raise premiums for the middle class and for the elderly, and that will leave the Medicare Advantage Plus plans intact.