Milk, seatbelts, and health insurance
Did you know there are laws which define what and and cannot be sold as milk? This is surprisingly important. Think about a world where milk isn’t defined. No sir, not a world I want to live in. Similarly, there are laws what define what a car is. And while the guy I saw zooming through DuPont Circle this morning on a powered skateboard might disagree, I think many of us are glad cars have to have seatbelt, come with 4 wheels and brakes. But not everything we use in our lives is so well defined. And sometimes when it is, there are attempts to remove those definitions.
Take, for instance, health insurance. Today, there are some legal requirements which say in order to call something health insurance it must include coverage for emergency departments, hospitalizations, ambulance rides and more. Those are called “Essential Benefits”. Just like I’m glad my car has to have seat belts and milk drinkers aren’t ever surprised by some factory-made substitute, there are a lot of people who are thankful to find out their insurance plan covered the ride from home to the ER that saved their life. It’s hard to imagine, but 7 years ago, that wasn’t the case.
That’s one of the reasons, until recently, medical bills were the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States.
So, if you are like me and you’re worried that one day you, or someone you love, may be sold non-milk, car with only 3 wheels, or worse, an insurance plan that doesn’t actually cover medical needs, now’s the time to call.
Somewhere, and I’d like to imagine it’s in a crumby, windowless, basement room that smells vaguely like a leaky sewage pipe, 13 dudes are meeting to figure out how to — among other things — remove the requirement to define what health insurance is. Because, in a free market, shouldn’t insurance companies be able to sell whatever they want to whomever they want? Buyer beware, and all that. That’s fine…when there’s a market.
If you are buying a car, there’s a good chance a few things are in your favor: One, you have a choice of car dealers in your state. If you don’t like Ford, you might have to drive 30 mins, but you can consider a Chevy. Secondly, you can do research on their respective quality and costs and make a fairly educated decision about what best meets your needs. Thirdly, you know how much it costs (or thereabouts, until the super awkward haggling part…amiright?!) before you actually drive off with the car. That’s a market.
But if you live in a place where there’s only one or two insurance plan options and you don’t have any insight into what they cover and you don’t even have the reassurance they will cover something and you won’t know until you get the bill…well that just feels like a cruel trick.
So today’s the day. If you don’t want to worry about if your insurance will actually cover something like, you know, a doctor’s visit. Or, perhaps more importantly, if you know and love someone in your life who can’t afford — in health or dollars — to have a non-insurance insurance plan, please pick up the phone and call your senator. If you live in a blue state and have a blue rep and feel aligned to them, call and ask what they are doing to stop the passage of the AHCA. If you aren’t aligned with them, call and let them know this is important to you and you’ll remember what they did or didn’t do in November. If you live in a red state with red representatives, let them know how important it is to know that insurance will actually help you when you need it. And if you live in a red state and aren’t aligned with your representation, let them know this is a chance to win you over or make a fierce foe come November.
Whatever you do, if you care about this, and I hope you do, please call. Call often. Call today. Ask to speak with their health policy lead. Explain why protecting “Essential Benefits” -the legal definition of what insurance must provide -is important to you.
