The USA Today and New York Times both highlight how the status quo is unacceptable in our health insurance system.Costs are rising at double-digit rates and eating into workers' wages. Doing nothing would mean family budgets crippled, businesses falling behind and state and federal governments going broke. But that doesn't have to be the case. The Affordable Health Care for America Act ensures affordability for the middle class, accountability for insurance companies, and accessibility for all Americans.
As the USA Today says:
As the USA Today says:
The purpose of insurance is to spread risk as widely as possible, at the lowest cost for everyone in the insurance pool. That's exactly what health bills currently stalled in Congress would do by requiring everyone to buy coverage, and helping lower-income people afford the premiums. Costs would be stabilized; everyone would be protected.Learn more about the health insurance reform bills before Congress and how they will improve Americans access to affordable health care and increase accountability for health insurance companies.
In exchange for millions of new customers, insurance companies agreed to quit doing many of the things that make people hate them, such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions and limiting coverage in ways that can bankrupt people when they become seriously ill. Having a larger, more stable group of customers would also reduce the need for abrupt and massive premium hikes.
Health reform legislation would also set up online exchanges where individuals and small businesses could buy policies. The medical insurance market would become more competitive: Companies couldn't turn applicants down, so it would be easier to jump to a different insurer if one hiked rates exorbitantly.
Further, the measures would require insurers to spend at least 80% of their premium income on paying claims, instead of on administrative and marketing costs. California's requirement is now 70%.
