HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENTS
March 8, 2002 - WAR REPORT NUMBER 10-2002
Robert Moffit, Director of Domestic Policy Studies for the Heritage Foundation, answered that question in an article titled, "A better Rx for health insurance" published in the January 16, 2002, edition of The Washington Times. This report is adapted from that article.

It appears that the stimulus bill package contained a provision hammered out in a bipartisan fashion to help the unemployed and uninsured with $1.3 billion worth of tax credits and premium subsidies for private health insurance for the unemployed. Moffit said that because Daschle opposes this common sense reform, he refused to let the bill come up for a vote. It seems that Daschle wants no part of any health care proposal that introduces patient choice or private-sector competition into the health care system. Notwithstanding the fact that for the unemployed, the situation is desperate. Not only do they lose both their coverage and their tax break, but they're forced to shell out for premiums that will climb an average of 13 percent or more this year. And even if they could afford it, the plans don't always meet the needs of a working family; they often include coverage for unnecessary items that drive up costs to merely meet the requirements of state law. Nation-wide, more than 1,400 state mandates govern the type of medical treatments and services health insurance must cover.

Moffit reports that these mandates force customers to subsidise treatments and procedures that many neither need nor want, such as acupuncture, chiropractors, contraceptives, dietetic services, drug-abuse treatment, in vitro fertilisation, infertility treatments, marriage therapists, social workers, professional counsellors and psychologists. Maryland has 50 such mandates, California has 42 with more on the way.

A study by the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA), indicates that as many as one in four uninsured Americans lack health coverage precisely because of the climbing cost of such mandates.

Stay tuned! Why? Because I tell it like it is and it's your money.

God Bless America.