The outspoken anti-government Governor Perry must be seriously chapped that if he doesn't do his job in delivering access the feds will do it for him.
States have 90 days from the March 23 signing of the health reform bill to set up a program to cover people with pre-existing conditions who have been uninsured for at least six months. If they can't or won't comply, the Department of Health and Human Services will administer one for them.
The program will build upon insurance exchanges that already exist in some states.
The program will build on buying pools that already exist in some states. The federal government will let states take the lead in setting up new pools or will administer them in states that don't want to participate on their own. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote to states Friday asking them to report back by the end of April on how they want to proceed.
The new program will provide "immediate relief for potentially millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, like diabetes or high-blood pressure, who have been shut out of the insurance system," Sebelius told reporters on a conference call.
But the good could come with the really bad. You see, fat cat the health insurance dude has a serious problem with universal access to health care.
The U.S. government warned state governors about scams orchestrated by greedy insurance companies or from corrupted faux insurance companies that might sell phony policies that cover nothing. I actually know someone whose mother is a victim of this. She bought a health policy from someone who knocked on her door. The woman did not realize she had paid for zip until she was hospitalized with a serious heart condition.
Buyers must beware the snake oil dealers and charlatans that bang on front doors or make phone calls to sell a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge.
What will our teabagging secessionist governor do to deliver access and shut down the con artists?
Will the tort reform obsessed Rick Perry, Greg Abbott and the Texas Republicans fight the federal regulation and stick yet another expensive, trivial and thoughtless lawsuit to the taxpayers of Texas in order to screw us one more time?
Or will Rick and Greg turn a blind eye to the potential scams pulled by the insurance companies?
In a letter sent Tuesday to state attorneys general and insurance commissioners, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urged officials to be aware of the possibility that fake health insurance plans are being offered to confused (particularly elderly) segments of the population.
Offering federal support for investigating and combating these types of cons, Sebelius called the deliberate deceit and profiteering off the health care law "unacceptable" and a threat to "Americans across the country.
"Unfortunately, scam artists and criminals may be using the passage of these historic reforms as an opportunity to confuse and defraud the public," Sebelius wrote.
The HHSS Secretary also urges state governors and state attorneys to do everything possible to crack down on the insurance companies scammers and con artists.
the kind of criminal activity that preys on the Americans who are most vulnerable in our health care system." She added that some con artists were setting up 1-800 numbers and going door-to-door trying to sell fake insurance policies to unsuspecting individuals.
Is anyone feeling particularly hopeful that Rick and Greg will step up for the victims? Will the Texas Republican Party of fat cats, for fat cats and by fat cats step up for the scammed?
I didn't think so.
November can't get here soon enough. |
