This article comes to us from the Wall Street Journal. It talks about how Erisa (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) is going to drastically change under the Obama health plan.
Summary of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) [pdf]
In short, Erisa establishes minimum requirements for insurance coverage provided by employers who can afford it (not all employers offer health insurance coverage).
The whole article is worth the read, but I’m just going to zoom in on heart of this piece.
“Erisa allows employers that self-insure—that is, those large enough to build their own risk pools and pay benefits directly—to offer uniform plans across state lines. This lets thousands of businesses avoid, for the most part, the costly federal and state regulations on covered treatments, pricing, rate setting and so on. It also gives them flexibility to design insurance to recruit and retain workers in a competitive labor market. Roughly 75% of employer-based coverage is governed by Erisa’s ‘freedom of purchase’ rules.
Goodbye to all that. The House bill says that after a five-year grace period all Erisa insurance offerings will have to win government approval—both by the Department of Labor and a new “health choices commissioner” who will set federal standards for what is an acceptable health plan. This commissar—er, commissioner—can fine employers that don’t comply and even has ‘suspension of enrollment’ powers for plans that he or she has vetoed, until ‘satisfied that the basis for such determination has been corrected and is not likely to recur.’
[...]
Yet a computer programming firm, say, and a grocery store chain have very different insurance needs, and in any case may not be able to afford the same kind and level of benefits. Innovation in insurance products will also be subject to political tampering. Likely casualties include the wellness initiatives that give workers financial incentives to take more responsibility for their own health, such as Safeway’s. Some politicians will claim that’s unfair. High-deductible plans with health savings accounts are also out of political favor, therefore certain to go overboard. If you have one of those and like it, too bad.” (more…)
“You can’t finance health care for 98% of the population with tax increases on 2%” (from the above clip)
If you don’t get that point, just go back to sleep.
