American Insurance

According the new health reform bill, if an American insurance company is to take part in the government insurance exchange, the firm is required to spend at least 85 cents out of each dollar it makes from large group plans directly on health care costs. They are required to spend 80 cents from money collected from small group plans or individuals. If the companies can’t meet those numbers each year, they are supposed to refund the amount left over to policy holders.

However, a lot of people feel giving the big firms just 15 or 20 cents out of each dollar to run their businesses isn’t quite realistic. This is because they have to pay salaries, office supplies, building maintenance, marketing, advertising, actuarial research, commissions, stockholder profits, and more out of that money.

No one would argue that as much money as possible should be going directly to health care and nobody wants to see anybody denied coverage. But there are a lot of people in the American insurance game who are arguing that some companies won’t be able to carry on with such a small percentage left for overhead.

These people point to the low profit margins that American insurance companies make to state their case. The health insurance business isn’t really rolling in money as its profit over expenses stands at just 3.3 percent. Out of 100 major industries this ranks 86th.

When compared to the profits that gas, electric, and beer companies make as well as the software industry, and medical lab services, the health insurance industry appears to be suffering. The low profit margin is generally due to the amount of work and research that goes into developing insurance plans. The costs add up very quickly as it’s a long and involved process.

Opponents to the bill say that there are hardly any other types of businesses in America that operate on such a small overhead percentage as the health care insurance companies are being asked to do, including non-profit organizations.

Only time will tell if the amount is too low for American insurance companies to survive on.

The state of Missouri wants its residents to be the first to vote on the new federal health insurance act. On May 11, the Missouri House approved a measure that will appear on an Aug. 3rd ballot that states employers and residents can’t be compelled to possess health insurance-neither can they be penalized for paying the cost of American insurance and health care out of their own pockets.

The referendum is in defiance of the American health care law that President Barack Obama signed in March that requires most citizens to be covered by health insurance by 2014 or face fines. However, federal laws generally supersede state laws, so Missouri’s measure may not hold much water.

It’s been reported that conservative lawmakers in about 80 percent of the states have proposed various measures that are designed to allow citizens to opt out of the federal health insurance mandate if they choose.  It’s become a hot topic lately as there are a lot of state and federal lawmakers hoping to be re elected this year.

The vote in Missouri will take place the same day as the state’s primary elections and it will represent the first state referendum since Obama signed the federal health care law back in March.

The measure was recently passed by senators 26-8 and the House passed it on May 11th by 108 to 47. Twenty-two Democrats supported it, but several Democratic lawmakers stated that the ballot was nothing more than a political ploy and election-year stunt.

It seems there are still a lot of Americans that don’t quite agree with President Obama’s new heath care bill, which was signed in March. A conservative group in Ohio with well over 20,000 members, named the U.S. Citizens Association, has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Akron to repeal the bill.

The non-profit association has put together a team of Constitutional litigators to kick start a full-scale legal attack against the American insurance health legislation, which is technically named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Citizen’s Association has recruited three law firms to represent their case in Federal Court as the group stated the law is a violation of the protections that are afforded Americans by the Bill of Rights.

The association says the First Amendment gives its members the right to ‘not associate’ with anybody they choose. It says this should include American insurance companies and indiana health insurance agents. The group also believes the Constitution gives its members the right to privacy and this will be taken from them if they have to supply confidential medical information which could include DNA samples, when applying for mandated health insurance.

In addition, the association states its members are being forced to buy something they don’t want and their personal liberty right is being negated as they are compelled by law to buy it. The group adds that the law allows for a tax penalty that isn’t authorized by the Constitution. It sees this as an illegal excise tax for simply not conforming.

The U.S. Citizens Association announced that it is devoted to protecting the individual liberties of Americans as well as promoting conservative values, financial responsibility, and the nation’s private enterprise system.  It also states it will challenge any violations of the Constitution by elected officials that are seen as a threat to the federal republic that was created by the U.S. Constitution.

According to U. S. American President Barack Obama, the country’s new health-care reform bill has already had a positive effect on the lives of millions of American citizens. In his weekly address to the nation on May 8, Obama stated that the American insurance industry has already agreed to stop canceling insurance coverage to people when they become sick, even though the deadline for doing so isn’t until September.

He said the new Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight will help states to put an end to American insurance providers from exploiting the country’s health-care system.  Obama added that the government has already halted the Anthem Blue Cross company in California from jacking up its health insurance rates by 39 percent.

The president went on to give more examples of the benefits of the reform bill by stating, “This year, four million small businesses benefited from health care tax cuts and senior citizens will receive a $250 rebate to help cover expensive medication expenses. The administration is also drafting a ‘patients’ bill of rights’ to educate consumers about their choices and rights and create an appeals process to enforce those rights.”

New rules also state that unmarried adults will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance coverage up until the age of 26 if they aren’t eligible for insurance anywhere else. This change wasn’t scheduled to be implemented until Sept. 23, but is now in effect after a move up date was requested by the government.

Initially, several major American insurance companies agreed and then the rest of them soon jumped on board. Many consumers know the best health insurance in illinois will be better from reform. Obama then asked employer-sponsored healthcare plans to follow the commercial insurance companies so everything could be put into place on the same date but many employer-sponsored plans will not be able to-including the governments.

Congressional budget referees announced on May 11 that U.S. President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill may potentially cost the government at least $115 billion more in health care spending during the next 10 years.

It was stated that if Congress approves all of the legislation’s additional spending, the cost over the next 10 years will top $1 trillion, which is the unofficial cap that Obama set.

The Congressional Budget Office stated that the additional spending includes between $10 and $20 billion in federal agency administrative costs for those dealing with the reform bill. It also takes into consideration $39 billion for Indian health care along with $34 billion for community health centers.

These costs weren’t included in the budget office’s previous estimates even though Republican lawmakers argued strongly they should have been. One of the reasons the costs weren’t added in is because the additional spending isn’t mandatory. This means it’s up to Congress to decide if they will supply the money in follow-on legislation or not.

Kenneth Baer, who is a spokesperson for the White house budget agency explained, “Congress does not always act on authorizations that are put into legislation by drafters. Authorizations for discretionary spending are not expenditures.”

In addition, Congressional estimators stated they didn’t have the time to study all of the costs and they might rise because the legislation authorizes some programs without putting specific funding levels in place.

The American insurance health care expansion was estimated to cost $938 billion over 10 years when the bill was passed in March, while knocking off $143 billion from the federal deficit.

However, Republicans are stating if all of the extra funding is approved for the health care bill, most of the administration’s savings will be wiped out.  However, Baer retorted that the president would offset any extra costs by reducing spending in other domestic programs.

It’s not too often that Fidel Castro and the U.S. government see eye to eye, but the famous Cuban leader actually had some kind words for American President Barack Obama and the Democrats recently.

Castro praised the passing of the American insurance health care reform and labelled it as miraculous. He added that the bill was definitely a feather in Obama’s cap, but also took the U.S. to task for taking so long to do what Cuba has been doing for years, which is providing health care for its citizens. He found it amazing that it took the world leaders over 200 years to offer its residents some type of health benefits while Cuba has been assisting its people for over 50 years.

Even though Castro handed over the reins in Cuba to his brother Raul back in 2008, he still shares his thoughts on world news, such as the American insurance issue, with Cubans by writing columns in the country’s state newspapers.

In fact, along with free health care, Cuba also offers its citizens free education, and heavily subsidizes other necessities such as housing, utilities, food, and transportation. But the Cuban government recently stated some of those benefits may soon be affected because of the nation’s struggling economy. Raul Castro has said the government has to cut down on health costs, but hasn’t said how as of yet.

While Fidel praised Obama for acting on the American insurance issue, he also expressed his disapproval of the president on other matters such as immigration reform and climate change. He also didn’t like the fact that Obama decided to ship more American soldiers to Afghanistan.

The praise of the president was an about face for Fidel, as he has heavily criticized him in his writings lately, especially after the U.S. mentioned Cuba as a country that sponsors terrorism.

He criticized Obama’s strong belief in capitalist imperialism, but in the same breath called him “unquestionably intelligent,” when referring to the American insurance health care reform.