Molly Tooly Moody on health care reform

“Molly Moody” (middle name “Tooly?”) wrote over at Left in the West on the supposed wonderful reforms of health care “reform.

The primary job of Democrats, as commenter “Ladybug” once reminded me, is to lower our expectations and keep them low. With health care, we are being told that a little bit of change is a really big deal. We are also to assume that this little bit of change would not have happened had not Democrats been elected. But it is public discontent, and not the party in power, that is the driving force behind reform. In the current environment, where money rules all, it is Democrats who are best at suppressing the reform impulse by rubbing a little bit of salve on a gaping wound, and then telling us it is major surgery.

Here are Molly’s six, the wonderful reforms the Democrats have given us. The Wellpoint-written health care reform bill …

1. Bans Insurance Companies from Dropping our Coverage When We Get Sick: The practice of rescission is indeed abominable, but only came about because insurance companies are able to construct artificial barriers around health care to prevent entry by potentially unprofitable clients. When someone lied on an application, the insurance company did not care, as they could simply fix the error by retroactively canceling the policy. Now that they cannot go back, they will simply be more cautious at the outset.

One a scale of 1-10, the amount of positive change here: 1.

2. Prohibits Excluding Coverage for Children With Pre-existing Conditions: There are many families where the parents buy insurance for the kids but not themselves, a third-world kind of fallback for people shut out of the system. Insurance companies here in Colorado, and no doubt elsewhere, have simply stopped writing policies in that area. (0)

3. Empowers Consumers to Appeal Insurance Company Denials: This already existed at the state level. Good grief. (0)

4. Extends Coverage for Young Adults: Young adults can stay on a parent’s plan until they turn 26. Here we might have something of value … if we pay the Piper. These insurance companies are willing to change any procedure if their bottom line is not threatened. Now that they all must insure kids until age 26, they will merely adjust their rates to compensate for the additional exposure. (Kids in their early 20’s are not a high-risk group anyway.) (0)

5. Provides Free Preventive Care: Nothing is “free.” of course, and surely not under these supposed reforms. The requirement that insurers now cover preventive care without deductibles and co-pays will be reflected in premiums. (Remember, there were no cost controls in this legislation.) However, the fact that people who previously avoided preventive care will now more likely seek it out is a good thing. (2)

6. Eliminates Lifetime Limits on Insurance Coverage: As with #5 above, this too will be reflected in premium structure, and insurance company profits are not threatened. Nonetheless, the very idea that our life lines could be cut off was barbaric. (3)

So, six changes heralded as a great accomplishment by these mealy-mouthed quislings we call Democrats … potential positive change: 60. Actual change, in the writer’s view: 6.

6/60 = 10% of mission accomplished. I’ll be damned. As Democrats go, this is overachieving!

Democrats are going to take a drubbing at the polls in November, and will whine that we are better off with them than the alternative. They always whine about that. If that were true, if it were anything more than good-cop-bad-cop, they might have a legitimate case.

As I am so fond of saying, better a real enemy than a false friend.