Rumor Mongering and Health Care Reform

You wrote:

That's hardly "guarantee[d] choice". This effectively means per Section 122(b)(9) that I would be forced to purchase a plan that includes "Maternity care", in spite of the physical impossibility of my ever becoming pregnant (I'm a man).

ARE you currently in a group health plan provided by your employer? If so, it contains benefits for maternity and you are paying for it. It probably contains benefits for breast exams and pap smears too.



And by mandating other "essential" coverages, such as prescription drugs and substance abuse, for example, that precludes my own personal choice of, say, getting a high-deductible policy that doesn't cover day-to-day expenses but rather only protects against a "catastrophic" expense.


Again if you are in a group health plan provided by your employer, it probably contains a mental health benefit, drug and substance abuse benefits, and lots of benefits you may never need... but the only choice you had was, do you want to enroll, YES [] NO []

You did not get to pick and choose from a menu of items... you got what the plan owner, the employer, decided they wanted to cover.

In addition, there are certain benefits that are mandated by state law that the insurance company must include in every insurance policy they sell.

I have a health savings account with a high deductible plan through my employer. But, to a certain extent, you're correct: under our current system, we still are at the mercy of our employer. A much better system would be to open up a truly competitive market, where individuals get the tax benefit instead of corporations, and insurance companies can then compete for our business with more choices -- similar to how other forms of insurance work.