Posted on 12/23/2011 2:41:08 PM PST by ColdOne
When the history of the 2012 campaign is written, a special place may be reserved for Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services and ex-governor of Kansas, who is doing her best to make the Affordable Care Act — aka, ObamaCare — disappear as a political liability for the president.
The most compelling evidence of this is her decision to delegate to states the final decision on defining "essential health benefits" for minimum health insurance coverage.
Some background: The ACA requires all Americans to have health insurance. But what's acceptable insurance? Under Section 1302 of the ACA, the secretary of HHS is supposed to answer that question. It's a fateful decision.
By 2016, an estimated 35 million uninsured Americans will receive subsidized health insurance under the ACA through Medicaid or from policies purchased on state "exchanges," according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The package of essential health benefits would apply directly to their coverage. It would also apply to unsubsidized beneficiaries receiving coverage in the individual and small group insurance markets (small group usually means firms of less than 100 workers). All told, about 73 million Americans would be affected, estimates the Kaiser.
Defining essential health benefits poses a basic conflict. On one hand, everyone wants broad coverage; on the other, the broader the coverage, the more expensive policies will be — pushing government spending up (because government pays for the subsidies) and wages down (because employers will shift compensation from wages to fringe benefits).
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
I am not going to your Camp!
“The secretary shall decide...”
I’d like to go back to the days where the name “Sebelius” meant only (to me) the Finnish composer, the Kalevala set to music, Romanticism...and so forth....
No, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.
Kathleen Mengele Sebelius
I still can’t look at her but remember what she did to curry Democrat favor and help get her current job. As Kansas governor when the town of Greensburg was obliterated by a Cat 5 tornado in Spring 2007 she disappeared for 36 hours, then reappeared in D.C. holding a press conference blaming GWB for not having sufficient National Guard personnel and equipment available for an emergency because of the war in Iraq.
This, while the inhabitants of Greensburg were busily digging themselves out, thank you very much.
Talk about leadership!
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Are you telling me you actually read the whole thing?
I read parts here and there in it. the pdf one you could type in a word and it would tell you how many times it would be in it.
OK, my state’s health plan will consist of the purchase of a first aid kit. Problem solved. If you want more complex health care, buy catastrophic insurance and pay for own routine care.
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