We had to pass this bill to see what was in it: Less Choice

[Triton]

I'm sure during the health care debacle you remember the obama and his merry crew telling us that obamacare would give us more health care options.

Not for the good citizens of Washington DC it seems:

Today the Board appointed to operate the District’s health-insurance exchange voted unanimously to endorse recommendations from the Insurance Working Committee on how the Exchange will operate.

The federal Affordable Care Act requires each state and the District to set up an Exchange where individuals and owners of small businesses can buy health insurance. Because consumers can easily compare prices and policies online, Exchanges should hold down the price of insurance and create plenty of choices.

“We have made a great start toward creating an exchange the District can be most proud,” said Dr. Mohammad N. Akhter, chairman of the Health Benefit Exchange board. “I look forward to creating an institution that aspires to ensure no Washingtonian will go without insurance.”

The District’s population is relatively small compared to most states – around 600,000 – and the District agencies and their consultants who have worked on this proposal since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 devised a plan that considers the unique characteristics of this market.

The provisions the Committee recommended and the Health Benefit Exchange Authority Executive Board approved Wednesday were:

•That the exchange be the sole health insurance marketplace for individuals and small businesses. This will help sustain the exchange in this unusually small market.
•To maintain the current definition of small business as two to 50 employees instead of two to 100.
•That health insurance plans meeting minimum requirements set forth by the ACA for qualified health plans, as well as any additional requirements set forth by the Exchange Authority, can be offered in the DC Exchange. This will preserve and expand current health insurance plan choices for District residents. .
•That the risk pools for the small businesses and individual buyers of insurance should be merged into a single pool to make quality, affordable health coverage seamlessly available to all District residents irrespective of employment status.
•To opt into the federally administered risk adjustment and reinsurance programs for the Exchange’s market.

http://healthreform.dc.gov/DC/Health...ealth+Exchange

That's right folks, you can't go purchase your own insurance if you are a company with fewer then 50 employees anymore. The one and only place you are allowed to purchase insurance is on the government exchange.

All the exchange plans must meet the ACA regulations no matter what insurer is offering them.

One size fits all, whether you like it or not, and you have no choice except to pay financial penalties to the government.

In other news Washington D.C. citizens will have their shapeless grey uniforms distributed tomorrow...

We told you so. Yay obamacare.

[annr]

Enter the Brave New World of healthcare. Who would vote for this? or the person behind it? (Yes, I am frustrated by this path to "improving" healthcare and see it as a crippling step backward.) We have some of the finest care in the world because of the free market. Even obama admitted that the Cleveland, or Mayo were examples of our fine care. Romney pointed out that that was private enterprise that made that care excellent.

The counter-argument will naturally be that Romney did the same thing here. No, he did not. His bill was 95 pages long, not 2000-3000 pages like the ACA. Businesses with under 50 employees did not see any change in coverage. Access to physicians remained the same, insurance coverage was not notably altered, and there was minimal government involvement in setting minimum coverage, and there is a wide selection of plans still available. Fortunately to date there is no behemoth Federal framework to obey, though apprehension is high among physicians that I have spoke with--none expecting change for the better.