Hillary Care II

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, laying out her first presidential health-policy agenda since a failed attempt during her husband's administration, said she would bar insurers from ``cherry picking'' profitable enrollees.

Cover everyone.

Sounds great.

Who pays the tab?

EVERYONE.

This is called redistribution of the wealth. Also known as rob Peter to pay Paul.

She said she would reduce the nation's health-care bill by encouraging preventive care to catch and treat diseases early on. The effort would require broad involvement, from insurance companies that could cover routine physicals to businesses that can offer incentives to workers for taking preventive steps, Clinton said.

What about personal responsibility? Requiring carriers to pay for routine services is foolish.

That's like making the roads safer by requiring auto insurance carriers to cover the cost of brakes & tires.

Clinton cited a program by Safeway Inc. The grocery chain, the third-largest in the U.S., has said it lowered its health- care costs by 15 percent for non-union workers with insurance plans that fully cover preventive checkups, such as annual physicals, well-baby care and colonoscopies for older people.

Preventive care works, but why is it the carriers responsibility to pay for it?

Seems there is more to the story than just what Ms. Clinton wants us to believe.

supermarket chain Safeway that focuses on preventive care reduced company health care costs by 11% for nonunion employees in 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The plan, which was offered in January 2006 to the company's nonunion workers, includes a $2,000 deductible and limits out-of-pocket spending to $3,000 for family coverage. Out-of-pocket costs are partially offset by a company contribution of $1,000 to a health reimbursement account

The HRA is more likely the contributing factor to lowering the cost of health insurance, not the preventive aspect.

Don't you just love folks that only give part of the story?

Hey, isn't that why you read InsureBlog? So you will know the rest of the story . . .