Health Insurance and You!

Having lost control over both the presidency and Congress, the GOP has overwhelmingly voted against economic initiatives aimed at alleviating the devastating effects of the recession. Be it the stimulus bill, energy bill, or health care reform, “Republican [leaders] find a way to argue that whatever Democrats are doing, it’s hurting the economy,” say Terence Burlij and David Chalian of the PBS Newshour blog.

Now you might be wondering, “Okay, but how does this affect me?” Well, in coming months we expect to see Republicans’ continued opposition of health care reform in several ways.  Grace-Marie Turner of the Wall Street Journal elucidates the ways in which the GOP will likely try to block health care reform: “their strongest cases would be built around jobs, the cost of health care, and the rising deficit. If evidence shows that looming mandates on employers are crippling job creation, they should be repealed. If health costs are rising, as they inevitably will be, Congress needs to hold hearings to investigate the causes and explain why the offending taxes and regulations must be repealed.”

It’s clear by now, that health care reform is far from being a done deal. The unfortunate byproduct of these efforts by the GOP is uncertainty for you—the consumer. There are justifiable concerns about the government’s ability to overcome the GOP’s blocking tactics, and achieve long-term success in financing reform.  Having said that, many aspects of reform (such as the inability to reject sick applicants) will help up to 30% of our customers immediately. You can expect us to track health care reform carefully, and make the necessary investments to ensure our customers can reap its benefits.