Bob Laszewski’s indepth analysis of Sen. Clinton’s health care reform proposal is the best I’ve seen. This is a print-and-read-on-the-plane piece, and well worth the time.
Thanks to Bob for his yeoman work.
Oct
11
Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Joe — I agree that Bob’s analysis was very good and comprehensive. I have a two part question for you. That is, how much of the private commercial insurance industry’s cost base relates to medical underwriting, which would largely disappear under community rating, and secondly, how much might it cost to collect the information necessary to do a reasonable job of individual risk scoring in order to facilitate risk adjustment payments if health insurance reform includes insurance exchanges?
Ooooh, Barry! Way to get right to the Holy Grail questions. Good stuff!
I have one other. When Hillary proposes $110 billion to pay for her plan, and all the other Democrats (who have the nerve to say so) price their plans in the same ballpark, is that gross or net? Because I’m thinking that $50 billion a year in DSH spending goes away (along with any other indigent care public spending) under a universal coverage scheme. So wouldn’t a $110 billion plan be almost half paid for in year one? Or does the the $110 billion already reflect doing away with public indigent care spending?