Saturday, August 8, 2009

HR 3200, Section 102 (Part 1)

“SEC. 102. (of 453) PROTECTING THE CHOICE TO KEEP CURRENT COVERAGE.
(a) Grandfathered Health Insurance Coverage Defined- Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, for purposes of establishing acceptable coverage under this division, the term `grandfathered health insurance coverage' means individual health insurance coverage that is offered and in force and effect before the first day of Y1 if the following conditions are met:
(1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT-
(A) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1.
(B) DEPENDENT COVERAGE PERMITTED- Subparagraph (A) shall not affect the subsequent enrollment of a dependent of an individual who is covered as of such first day.
(2) LIMITATION ON CHANGES IN TERMS OR CONDITIONS- Subject to paragraph (3) and except as required by law, the issuer does not change any of its terms or conditions, including benefits and cost-sharing, from those in effect as of the day before the first day of Y1.”
Translation:
Section 102 deals with your current health insurance through a non-government health insurance company – the insurance that you currently have, and that you will have on the day this law goes into effect:
1. Private insurance companies will be prohibited by law from enrolling any new customers in their plans after the first day this law goes into effect.
2. If you already have health insurance (and don’t try to change to another company), then your dependents will be allowed by your government to be enrolled on your plan.
3. Your benefits on your private plan are prevented by law from being changed, even if those changes are for your benefit. For example, you couldn’t switch to a better plan that suits your changing needs as time goes on.
Likely Effect:
If you decide you don’t like your private insurance plan, for whatever reason (and there are plenty of reasons made likely by the later provisions in the bill), you are prevented by your government from changing to another private insurance company or from changing your existing plan to one that is cheaper, or that better meets your needs!

Your President and your Congressional representatives are telling you that this bill will not serve to weaken or destroy the private insurance industry. Judge for yourselves. Just remember this: if there is no viable private option for you (and this portion of the bill tells you that there is not), your only recourse is to become enrolled in the “public option”, the socialized medicine plan run by the government – the same government that is calling those of us who oppose this bill “Nazis”.

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