It has been a very long time since I have written a blog post on healthcare reform.   I have found the fallout from healthcare reform to be so overwhelmingly non logical that I just got tired of complaining.  

  • Long Term Care, a key component in passing healthcare reform in 2010,  that’s gone.  Removed as not doable.   Duh!
  • The law to forbid insurance companies from declining or excluding conditions on any child under the age of 18 led to the disappearance of plans for kids without an adult, and raised the cost of coverage for all.  In States that were already progressive, like Illinois, it raised the potential cost to insure a child by more 300%.   
  • The 10 Billion dollar give back by drug companies…. well…. it doesn’t seem like it.   Profits are up in the sector. 
  • Health Insurance companies – Profits also way up, service down.   

That said, today announcement of a compromise by the Obama administration on the issue of forcing religious organizations to provide free birth control to all employees even though it’s against the church belief system seems to represent the worst of Washington.  

NBC News reported today:  

According to a source who has been briefed
on the matter, the White House will announce an “accommodation” to the
contraception rule. The announcement will try to ease the concerns of those with
religious views by not requiring them to pay for contraception.

This effectively means that insurance
companies will pay for the contraception coverage directly. 

According to The Associated Press, women
will still get guaranteed access to birth control without co-pays or premiums no
matter where they work, a provision of Obama’s health care law that he insisted
must remain.

But religious universities and hospitals
that see contraception as an unconscionable violation of their faith can refuse
to cover it, and insurance companies will then have to step in to do so.

My opinion on whether the government should or should not mandate this benefit is not important.  What is important here is the deception by the White House to try and convince the public that they can waive a magic wand, and birth control will be free.    

First, this does not address the impingement of religious rights in that the policy will still have to cover it, and it adds insult to the process by trying to argue in the public forum that the institution wont have to pay for it.   Silly!  Of course they pay for it.   All organizations, whether they pay for it or not will have it blended into their rates.   Insurance simply pools the cost and spreads it out to all.

I want to have hope that our leaders won’t disguise and deceive the public debate in trying to solve problems.  Today is yet another example of the current administration trying to play dumb and claim later that it was the law of unintended consequences.  

You are entitled to your own opinion on the issue, but lets collectively own the fact that the compromise is an attempt to deceive the public on how insurance works.   Today is another indication that it doesn’t matter what it is, just how it looks.  Shame on the administration for today’s “insult to injury” non-compromise.