Healthcare Provisions Kicking in...
Just thought I would post something I just got off of Yahoo News....
To be candid, I really can't find fault with any of the provisions of the new Healthcare Law that kick in this week...
Among benefits taking effect this week:
_Young adults can remain on their family's health plan until they turn 26.
_Free immunizations for kids.
_Free preventive care, like mammograms and cholesterol screenings.
_No more lifetime coverage limits, and annual limits start to phase out.
_Plans can't cancel coverage for people who get sick.
_No denial of coverage to kids with pre-existing health conditions.
To be candid, I really can't find fault with any of the provisions of the new Healthcare Law that kick in this week...
Among benefits taking effect this week:
_Young adults can remain on their family's health plan until they turn 26.
_Free immunizations for kids.
_Free preventive care, like mammograms and cholesterol screenings.
_No more lifetime coverage limits, and annual limits start to phase out.
_Plans can't cancel coverage for people who get sick.
_No denial of coverage to kids with pre-existing health conditions.
Labels: Healthcare Provisions
posted by The Quick Consultant at
3:17 PM
4 Comments:
Of course, they all sound fantastic from a beneficiary point of view.
What about from the provider point of view? Will mammograms really be free? Are the techs who take the xrays going to donate their time? Are the companies who make the xray material going to donate the product? Are the radiologists going to donate their time? Are the electric companies going to donate the cost of power for that service? Hmmm.
As a small business owner, I just see $$$ signs. I have to pay twice: once on my income taxes (to fund the general pot that will surely be mismanaged) and again directly as I pay the premiums for my health care plan and my employees' health care plans.
There is no way insurance companies or doctors or hospitals can provide more benefits without raising the price somewhere. No business can do that, I am not sure why we are expecting anything different from the healthcare industry.
Surely no one thinks anything is really "free"... I know I do not print extra 100,1000, or 10,000 copies without receiving appropriate compensation. My cost-of-goods-sold is not 0 so obviously my sale price cannot be 0. Maybe that compensation is direct: like you pay me for those copies up front. Or maybe it is indirect: like maybe you sign another contract for more printing or you pay a higher price than I would normally charge for another service. But they are surely not given to you "free".
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I disagree with Shirley - Of course insurance companies, doctors and hospitals can provide more benefits without raising prices. Maybe they won't live like Kings any more, but would be nice if they were like the rest of us and learned to live within their means! My family and I own a small commercial print shop and yes we provide Health Insurance for our employees all on our dime,including their dependents, so I know if you tighten the belt you can do many things.
Hi~ it's not that the health providers have no margin for "tightening their belts"... and in the spirit of 'shared sacrafice' we surely would expect them to do so!
Still, I think it's the order of magnitude that makes the difference in this case.
If one (or even 2 or 3) vendors raise their prices on cost-of-goods and we *choose* not to pass those price increases on to our customers, that is "tightening our belts".
If we *choose* to purchase insurance for our employees even though it affects our monthly cash flow, that is "tightening our belts"...
In this case, we have the federal government *ordering* an entire industry to provide various free specialty services *every* year to *every* [qualified] person that requests it. So the law sets the pricetag at $0 for these services, but in no way reduces the cost-of-goods incurred by the industry to perform these services.
In my little pea brain I was just trying to think of something equivalent in our little business. If we had to suddenly stop charging for, say, UV Coating, how would I handle it? Surely my vendors are not going to suddenly start providing my equipment & supplies for free. My employees are not going to volunteer to do the work on their own time. So would I just eat it?
Although I might eat some of the labor costs, more than likely I would re-distribute the cost-of-goods (and at least some of the labor costs) across the other profit centers... with the net result that I myself have "tightened my belt" but also forced *everybody* to pay more to compensate for what *some* want for free.
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