Searching for Easter Eggs in the Health Care Bill (Senate Version)

Section 2706, pages 12 & 13 of the Senate version (note: it’s the House version that has the Page 16 Controversy, discussed below):

A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage, may not establish rules for eligibility (including continued eligibility) of any individual to enroll under the terms of the plan or coverage based on any of the following health status-related factors in relation to the individual or a dependent of the individual:

(1) Health status.
(2) Medical condition (including both physical and mental illnesses).
(3) Claims experience.
(4) Receipt of health care.
(5) Medical history.
(6) Genetic information.
(7) Evidence of insurability (including conditions arising out of acts of domestic violence).
(8) Disability.
(9) Any other health status-related factor determined appropriate by the Secretary.

I like point 9 especially. Pretty sure they threw that in there to drive home the point that representative accountability is no longer a government requirement (in case you missed that).

• Translation: If you’re going to offer health insurance, you can’t base eligibility on anything related to, say, health for instance.
• Analogy: “We’re going to ignore the fact that you are a repeat DUI offender and killed a family of six just last week; we’ll be more than happy to offer you car insurance.”

Is Individual Private Insurance Really Outlawed?
And what about the claim by IBD and others that the House version of the bill forbids insurers from offering individual health plans? As usual, no answer is straightforward. Page 16 eliminates existing plans, page 19 allows for new plans under new guidelines. However, the new guidelines are such that they will be too expensive to gain any real traction. So now, they aren’t outlawed, but they may as well be since insurers aren’t likely to find them worth offering. Which is exactly what the Obama administration is hoping for. For more information on this and the relevant text, the Heritage Foundation has done the best write-up on the facts that I’ve seen thus far.