Mountains Out of, Well, Nothing, Really

One of the talking points against the current health care plan, as I've heard it, is that the plan will make private health care illegal. Indeed, a very quick perusal on the blogs will show the flailing, wailing, and posturing. Not only that, but you can even find the language they are all up in arms about in the House version of the bill: "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law."

Yep, you look at the bill on page 16, and there it is, plain as day! In fact, so is the entire section: Sec. 102 A(1)(a):

SEC. 102. PROTECTING THE CHOICE TO KEEP CURRENT COVERAGE.

(a) Grandfathered Health Insurance Coverage Defined- Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, for purposes of establishing acceptable coverage under this division, the term `grandfathered health insurance coverage' means individual health insurance coverage that is offered and in force and effect before the first day of Y1 if the following conditions are met:

(1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT-

(A) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1.

If you read the entire section, you see that the language that has so many people up in arms is actually limiting a DEFINITION of what qualifies as Grandfathered Health Insurance - it does NOT make private health insurance illegal.

Hats off to Hilzoy of Obsidian Wings for going the extra step of actually looking at the bill that so many others (as she documents on her blog post here) clearly missed.