The Health Insurance Exchange road show set up its tent in Cheyenne last night and although the temperature was balmy outside, the snow job inside blew just as hard as it had in previous meetings. Elizabeth Hoy, the governor’s Exchange salesperson, painted a rosy picture of the utopia a government health Exchange would create. She laid out three options: do nothing; have the federal government set up and exchange in Wyoming; or run a state-wide exchange. She said the governor wants a Wyoming solution (read: a state Exchange) and doesn’t want the feds here running an Exchange.
In fact, Ms. Hoy stressed the need for an Exchange. She expects to get about half of the estimated 83,000 people in the state who don’t have health insurance into its clutches. With great drama, she said the uninsured’s health care needs were being studied by a task force on hospital insolvency. Your correspondent stood up and asked just how the government was going to get uninsured people to buy insurance. Ms. Hoy insisted the government wasn’t planning to force people to buy insurance. But in fact, Obamacare’s individual mandate will force people to either purchase health insurance or pay a tax. This means people will be forced to pay more, whether they want to or not.
According to Ms. Hoy, it now costs the average person an eye-popping $873 per month for health insurance in Wyoming. When an audience member asked whether insurance premiums would cost more under an exchange, she dodged the question. I asked Ms. Hoy to address that question. Ms. Hoy said she didn’t know how much premiums would cost but she did confirm that everyone would end up paying more.
Are we to conclude that a young health person would be forced to hand over more than $873 per month if the government sets up an Exchange?
A woman in the audience stood up and said her daughter wouldn’t be able to afford to pay that much. Ms. Hoy said federal subsidies will be available to help people who can’t afford to pay the premium. But the federal government is already $15 trillion dollars in debt. Where is the money to pay these subsidies supposed to come from? Higher federal tax rates? Just how much more can the average family be squeezed? Besides, raising tax rates doesn’t necessarily increase tax revenue. More subsidies will only increase an already unsustainable federal debt level.
Also during the meeting, the Wyoming Liberty Group’s Steve Klein pointed out that Obamacare forces health insurance plans to pay for birth control. Some people are opposed to birth control for religious or other reasons. What this means, though, is people will be forced to pay for other people’s birth control pills. If the governor were truly looking for a made-in-Wyoming solution, instead of just accepting Obamacare if the current Supreme Court challenge fails, Wyoming should make another challenge using this fundamental violation of religious freedom under the First Amendment.
The governor’s representative paints a rosy picture of the Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange but if Wyoming sets up an Exchange, it could force people to purchase an expensive product they would have otherwise chosen not to, and pay for medical procedures they disagree with.
Mead needs to go. He is entirely out of touch with the regular people in Wyoming. If Wyoming does this, I will move to a state that has used nullification to nullify Obama Care. I will not put up with the nonsense.
I too was in attendance at the Health Exchange Town hall meeting in Cheyenne on the 25th. I wouldn’t say it was a dog & pony show; I would describe it as the “building of the corral”. Just like building a holding pen for cattle, once erected they entice the cattle into the pen with some feed then gently guide the cattle into the corral. Once in and gate closed, they’re steak!
I was hoping for a presentation based around data to support their current choices and actions. Maybe some strategic options as to what courses were being planned by our Governor to combat the obvious abuse of Wyoming liberty by the Federal Government.
Instead I witnessed an Infomercial of buzz words used to usher in DRG’s, PPO’s, HMO’s, and now Integrated Health Systems… “better care”, “lower cost”, and “improved access”. They did dress up the IHS with an Exchange Management group and an IT component. A new color of lipstick for an old pig!
There was no strategy for enhanced competition among insurers, no mechanism to put power of healthcare dollars in the hands of citizens, no guarantees on healthcare cost reduction and most notably no data of any sort. I did see opportunities for how they can control the liberties of Wyoming citizens; impose their definition of Quality Care, and reap good profits for participating business partners.
This looks more like Governor Meads rendition of Nancy Pelosi’s “you have to pass it to see what’s in it”.
Thank you Doug for your thoughtful comments. Sorry we missed you.