The Intercept : declared in Democratic Superdelegate, in Room Full of Health Insurance Executives, Laughs Off Prospect of Single Payer

Centene, which merged with Health Net two years ago, is a health insurance company that sells coverage in 28 states. Despite well-entrenched opposition from much of the private health care industry, political momentum for single payer has enjoyed a rapid boom of late. Listen here:The claim that single payer suppresses innovation is an old argument that does not stand up to scrutiny. A single-payer insurance system, like Medicare, would simply negotiate for lower prices from providers, and would likely steer savings towards greater investments in research and development. In the past, the health insurance industry has deployed sophisticated propaganda efforts to divide single-payer proponents and weaken any political support for the idea.

Relationship of Health Insurance and Mortality

Why the Causal Relationship of health insurance to Mortality Is Hard to StudyInferences about mechanisms through which insurance affects mortality are subject to even greater uncertainty. The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, the only available randomized, controlled trial that has assessed the health effects of insurance, suggests that insurance may cause a clinically important decrease in mortality, but wide CIs preclude firm conclusions. Finally, our focus on mortality should not obscure other well-established benefits of health insurance: improved self-rated health, financial protection, and reduced likelihood of depression. Why the Causal Relationship of Health Insurance to Mortality Is Hard to Study Table 2. Finally, several studies have assessed the relationship between insurance coverage and hypertension control, a likely mediator of any relationship between coverage and all-cause mortality.


The ACA does this through the so-called individual mandate, which charges a tax penalty to people who don't have health insurance. But a 64-year-old making the same amount of money would pay $4,400 in yearly premiums under Obamacare, compared to $16,000 a year under the Senate health care bill. If those premiums are combined with a high deductible, the cost of health care could equate to nearly 40 percent of that 64-year-old's annual income. The CBO said the Senate version would cut $772 billion of Medicaid funding over the next decade, compared to $834 billion in the House bill. "Imposing that waiting period" proposed by the Senate "would … slightly increase the number of people with insurance, on net," the CBO concluded.


collected by :Lucy William

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