SEPTEMBER 23, 2010
While listening to the White Sox on the radio on Wednesday afternoon, the play-by-play announcer, Ed Farmer, mentioned Robin Ventura. Ventura attended Oklahoma State and played college baseball. In 1987 he hit safely in 58 consecutive games. That is a Division I college baseball record. According to Ed Farmer, the streak was snapped in a game against Stanford. The pitcher for Stanford was Jack McDowell. Ventura and McDowell were teammates with the Chicago White Sox. Each player started their professional careers and made their Major League debut with the White Sox.
Dr. Obama arrives in your house today. The health care reform act was passed six months ago. Have you noticed the improvement in our countries health care? Today, six significant aspects of the law, officially known as Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, go into effect. It is only coincidence the provisions will be effective less than six weeks before the November elections. Apparently the Democrats thought, wrongly, this legislation would be popular and give them a boost just in time for election day. Isn’t it amazing a thought, law or idea came out of Congress that did not work as promised.
The provisions that become enforceable law today include;
1. Children of insured parents can remain on their parents policy until they are 26;
2. Lifetime caps on benefits and costs of treatments can no longer be imposed on the insured by insurance companies;
3. Preventive services are now covered;
4. Insurers cannot deny coverage to children with a pre-existing condition;
5. Insurance companies must work together and form high-risk pools to cover adults with pre-existing conditions;
6. Insurance companies can only terminate coverage for customer fraud.
I assume they can terminate coverage for non-payment of premiums.
It will be some time before the impact of these changes in the law will be assessed. Most people believe it will result in higher costs. Common sense leads to that conclusion. Some aspects of the law take actuarial studies out of the equation. Why determine the concept of probabilities when the law forces insurance companies to cover everybody regardless of your historical probability to get a particular disease or you already have a disease.
The health care reform act is a game changer for the insurance industry. Insurance companies are now an arm of the federal government just spreading the wealth from those with it to those without it. Life is not always fair. No matter how hard Washington D. C. tries, you cannot legislate fairness. Forcing you ideas upon a majority of citizens that are against it is not democracy. It is an attempt to be a benevolent monarchy.
President Obama begins his “I want another Nobel Prize” tour today by speaking at the U. N. President Obama spoke there last year and won the Nobel Peace Prize ten days later. This year, he must be looking for the Nobel Prize in medicine by touting his health care reform before the U. N. I do not think he can brag about the two wars he is still waging, poorly, to get another Nobel Peace Prize.
President Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy. President Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln.
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BRUCE A. BRENNAN
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