D'oh Guess We Should Have Thought of That: A Lesson in Unintended Consequences

I am not sure where this falls really... lack of foresight, the bigger picture was more important, guess we should have read those 2000 pages more carefully... I decided to use Homer Simpson's "D'oh" as the best expression. I am sure you are wonder what the hell I am talking about. Well this is it.. a news headline that read "Citing health overhaul, AARP hikes employee costs". The article then starts off

"AARP's endorsement helped secure passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Now the seniors' lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise partly as a result of the law....In an e-mail to employees, AARP says health care premiums will increase by 8 percent to 13 percent next year because of rapidly rising medical costs.....And AARP adds that it's changing copayments and deductibles to avoid a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law...Shifting costs to employees lowers the value of a health care plan and acts like an escape hatch from the tax."

This is AARP's attempt to avoid being classified as a "Cadillac Plan". As writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP states in the article "...employers are already beginning to assess their potential exposure because it is hefty: at 40 percent of the value above $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for a family plan. The tax is intended as a savings measure, to prod employers and workers into more cost-efficient plans."

David Certner, the legislative affairs director for AARP, said that they make public policy decisions without regard to the effect it might have on their own employees. So the employees are going to be getting an 8% to 13% increase in their insurance costs and more will be coming.

Hmmm... I wonder what the enthusiasm for healthcare reform is now with those employees and how do they feel about the organization pushing public policy without regard to their well being?

An alternative seniors group to AARP, the Seniors League, says that Health Care Reform Legislation Could Hurt Seniors. They make two points about healthcare: 1. Shaky Medicare Financing: The bill will not shore up Medicare’s financing, despite claims to the contrary; and  2. Reduced Access to Care: Seniors may have reduced access to medical care as providers experience cuts and go out of business.

With the mid-term elections having changed the power structure in Congress it will be interesting to see what happends with healthcare reform. I just hope whatever is done they look at what the "unintended consequences" could potentially be of either allowing the bill to go unchanged or by changing the bill.
 
Sometimes I think we often miss that part of thinking.

Unions and Republicans: Both Unhappy With Healthcare Bill

There is an old saying that politics makes for strange bedfellows. (Click for an explanation of the idiom.) And it looks like 2010 is going to make for some weirdness in Washington (even more than usual.) Everyone knows that Republicans are unhappy with both versions of the Healthcare bill being promoted by the Obama administration. One of the versions proposes to pay for healthcare by taxing what the President calls "cadillac plans." This was meant to appeal to the "masses" because it implied taxing the rich. Well it turns out that many labor union members have "cadillac" healthcare plans and they are really upset with the current state of the healthcare bill.

They are so upset that they went to see the President Monday night to not only express their dismay but to threaten that many Democrats may lose their jobs in the next election if changes are not made. (Anyone surprised that union leaders resort to threats?) In an AP article, Labor angry over Obama-backed insurance tax, reporter Erica Werner says "The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, warned that Democrats risk catastrophic election defeats similar to 1994 if they fail to come up with a health bill labor likes." She goes on further to report "The head of the International Association of Firefighters, Harold A. Schaitberger, made similarly threatening remarks in a statement Monday. 'The president's support for the excise tax is a huge disappointment and cannot be ignored. If President Obama continues to support it and signs a bill that includes the excise tax on workers, we will hold him accountable,' said Schaitberger, who was not among the attendees at the White House meeting."

So here we have a strange beginning to 2010 and the renewed debate on healthcare, labor unions and Republicans working together to get it changed. Who would have guessed it is the union workers who have the "rich" benefit plans that the Democrats railed against. OOPS!

This one will be interesting to watch.