The other side of the coin

"The next few months are going to be very interesting to watch as this new healthcare plan goes through the House and the Senate. Interesting and maybe even a bit scary."

Soon it will be goodbye ObamaCare. And then hello TrumpCare. Or GOPCare. Actually, GOPCare would be a better fit. All Trump has done with this new plan has been to dictate he wants pre-existing conditions and children up to 26 to remain in the mix. The rest is all GOP newthink.

Here is the bad news for the Party of Lincoln. Very soon, you will own this mess. The Democrats who created Frankenstein's Monster, are going to skate away Scott free. And from now until the Democrats take control of the government again (if ever), the GOP will get the blame for our healthcare woes, or the credit for saving it.

I hope I will be pleasantly surprised with the product the GOP is finally going to unveil. Rand Paul has already plugged his nose from what he has seen leaked out so far. Erik Paulsen wants the device tax eliminated immediately. Many states are starting to have a cow knowing that if more Medicaid responsibility is shifted to them, it is going to be a huge financial ouch. Maybe even a back breaker.

And here is what I am afraid is going to be the rub. Costs. Trying to find a home for medical costs is like playing wack-a-mole. They always will pop up somewhere. Either the federal government is going to absorb them, or the state governments, hospitals and doctors, insurance companies, or individual premium payers. And to keep the pre-existing condition element in the new plan is going to be very, very tricky to work out. Plus the revenue from the device tax will have to be made up somewhere.

In my opinion, one of the big problems with ObamaCare is it threw actuarial accounting out the window. Insurance companies thrive on having good actuarial counsel in establishing premiums. This is going to sound harsh, so please forgive me in advance. To take someone on board as a client who has a pre-existing condition, and not have commensurate premiums to cover that client, is not financially wise. Somehow, the costs to care for people with pre-existing conditions need to be covered with some kind of carve out. And this carve out can't explode our already out of control national debt.

The next few months are going to be very interesting to watch as this new healthcare plan goes through the House and the Senate. Interesting and maybe even a bit scary. In any event, we are about to see the other side of the coin.