The new health care plan is frequently on the mind of many Americans, but many of the changes are of particular concern to small business owners.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, insurance providers are reacting to the new health care plan by offering “limited option plans,” more affordable plans with reduced premiums, but the pool of doctors that an individual can choose from is much narrower.
These plans are particularly appealing to small businesses that are faced with increasingly expensive medical coverage for their employees.
These limited option plans are, reportedly, capable of saving up to 15 percent for the companies providing the insurance. The savings may mean that more small business can offer coverage to more employees.
According to Peter Skoda, a small business owner, these new plans “eliminate the Gucci doctors.”Skoda recently changed plans for his company in the face of a 35 percent increase in his rates.
Limiting the choices of health care recipients to save money is by no means a new idea. The last time this style of insurance was common was in the early 1990s with HMOs. During this time, the insurance companies did more than just pay the doctor or hospital bills, the insurers would limit the specialists and hospitals that patients could see.
Needless to say, the utterance of “HMOs” does not evoke a positive connotation. As a result, both president Obama and Hillary Clinton have learned to perpetually interject the idea of choice in the discussion of the new health reform.
Insurance companies, however, are convinced that these more affordable but more restrictive health care plans will have a widespread appeal.
The key is balance. The goal of the new health reform is to give people a choice while making an appealing environment for insurers to offer coverage that is high quality and affordable.
Whether the government successfully struck this balance is anyone’s guess at this point. The big question: Will more but limited coverage give people the care they need and the coverage to stay out of medical debt and medical bankruptcy?
Most experts don’t believe that the classic HMO scenario of managed health care is going to come back. But with the increase in the cost of health care, bits and pieces of that type of health care might make an appearance in the kinds of plans that companies switch to in order to save money.
One of the key differences between these new insurance policies and the HMO style ones is the method of doctoral limitation. Previously, the doctors and hospitals were limited based almost exclusively on the cost. Now, however, the insurers are claiming to look at many other factors, including recovery time from surgery.
The speculation of the ramifications of the new health care legislation is never ending. What isn’t speculative is some of the effects that are already taking place. And it is clear that these alternative insurance policies are going to be popping up more than they have.
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