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Lawmakers
struggle with how age should influence
Insurance Premiums
Oct 28, 2009--Age
issues emerge in the health care reform
debate as lawmakers struggle with how much
young and old people should pay for
insurance. Meanwhile, lawmakers and
different groups try to woo seniors.
NPR reports: "The rules for how
health insurers use age to set premium rates
vary widely from state to state. ... In
trying to draft new national standards, the
key congressional committees agree that
older people should pay more. But they
differ widely on just how much more." NPR
also examines the cost of premiums and
compares the insurance market to a pool
party, in which insurers and policy makers
try to get people of all ages to join in the
pool.
It
notes: "The bill passed by the Senate
Finance Committee would allow insurers to
charge older adults four times the amount it
charges younger people. The House bill and
the Senate health committee bill make a
different choice: They would limit what
insurers can charge older adults to two
times the amount. The insurance industry
strongly prefers the higher 4-to-1 multiple"
(Varney, 10/27).
In a separate piece,
NPR reports on seniors' powerful
political sway: "Nearly all seniors already
have health insurance through the Medicare
program, but they are among the most
sought-after groups in the political
struggle to pass or kill a health overhaul
bill. Democrats have stuffed their bills
with sweeteners intended to woo the over-65
crowd. Among those sweeteners is a gradual
closing of the 'doughnut hole,' the quirk in
the Medicare drug benefit that requires
patients to continue to pay premiums even
while paying the full cost of their
medicines. The bills would also eliminate
copayments on preventive care. And the
Senate Finance bill would pay for annual
'wellness' checkups for every Medicare
patient. Currently, the program only pays
for a single physical when a senior first
enrolls in the program. Republicans,
however, have been hammering for months the
fact that much of the bill would be financed
by cutting future Medicare spending" (Rovner,
10/28}
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