Regarding Irwin Kaufman’s letter to the editor, “Health care act has helped millions”:
Although Mr. Kaufman and the backers of this law seem driven by good intentions, the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” aptly applies.
While the law was certainly ambitious, its implementation has been disastrous. Mr. Kaufman probably doesn’t know it, but the provision that “millions” of children can’t be turned down due to pre-existing health conditions under the law has had the exact opposite effect — since it went into effect, not one child can get insurance on his or her own in Nevada. This unintended consequence of the law doesn’t make it into the news.
The law is filled with items like this, but unfortunately no one decides to check the “facts” coming out of Washington. Another fact: 80 percent of premiums must go toward claims and cannot go toward “officers’ salaries” ... problem is insurance companies aren’t cutting officers’ salaries but other non-claims items: things like 24-hour nurse hotlines, health education and perhaps most important, fees for consumer-advocates that take them to task when they don’t pay claims to their insureds.
Public health plans are no better. Do you know that if you need a heart transplant in Nevada that Medicaid won’t pay for it if you’re over 19? Or that Medicare just recently began covering prescription drugs and routine physicals, something that private plans have been doing for four decades? Be careful what you wish for — you just might get it.
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