Is Providing Health Insurance for All Rocket Science?

Between the two of us we have over 50 years of experience having read, analyzed and critiqued a large body of written material that has been technical, complex, and sometimes opaque. We believe that we should be able to read and understand most public policies that apply to us. But we must admit to being baffled by the Affordable Care Act, and find it confusing to wade through the various choices, benefits, and costs contained within the Act. Adding to our confusion are the recent statements by the President that we "can keep our plan if we want to" (for a year--what does that mean), and by the legislation currently moving through Congress that will also allow people to keep their old plan (whatever that means).

We don't think that our confusion has anything to do with gridlock based on partisan politics. We think that the President and Congress are creating options and plans that protect themselves, their staffs, the insurance companies, and not the average American who wants/needs health insurance. The President and Congress have taken their eye off the ball, which is uninsured Americans, and have been wooed by the siren-songs of the single payer plan or the wisdom of the free market.

It really shouldn't be that hard if the focus is on providing health insurance for the 30 million uninsured Americans, some of whom can't afford insurance and some of the younger risk-takers who feel that the costs of insurance outweigh the benefits. So the questions are: (1) what is the cost of providing insurance for the uninsured? (2) how can we pay for that new cost by new taxes, or by increasing the costs of existing insurance plans, or by a combination of both.

We believe that we could come up with a plan to provide health insurance for the uninsured that would be easily understood and perhaps supported by a larger majority of Americans. We really don't think it is rocket science.