mandated private health insurance

“It will basically be a government law that says you have to buy their defective product,” says Dr. David Himmelstein, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a founder of Physicians for a National Health Plan. [ http://www.pnhp.org/ ]

“[ In a similar program in Massachusetts. ] For someone my age who is making $40,000 a year you are required to lay out $5,000 for an insurance premium for coverage that covers nothing until you have spent $2,000 out of pocket,” Himmelstein said. “You are $7,000 out of pocket before you have any coverage at all. For most people that means you are already bankrupt before you have insurance. If anything, that has made them worse off. Instead of having that $5,000 to cover some of their medical expenses they have laid it out in premiums.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090823_this_isnt_reform_its_robbery/

NYT: “Real Choice? It’s Off Limits in Health Bills”

From Today’s NYT article, entitled

“Real Choice? It’s Off Limits in Health Bills”

“Real choice is not part of the bills moving through the Democratic-led Congress; even if the much-debated government-run insurance plan was created, it would not be available to most people who already have coverage. Republicans, meanwhile, have shown no interest in making insurance choice part of a compromise they could accept. Both parties are protecting the insurers.”