NJ Governor elections

[hatman]

I'm worried about the election for my state governor.

At first, I was taking it for granted. NJ tends to vote Democratic in general, and in this political climate, it seemed inevitable that we'd stay blue. The first ads of the season seemed to bear that up. Corzine, the Democratic incumbent, ran ads with dire warnings that Christie, his Republican opponent, wanted to cut taxes on the rich, cut environmental protections, cut funding for schools and other programs, etc etc... In short, he's a Republican!!!

Things have gotten more heated since then, with some very negative ads on both sides. (Amusingly, the first negative ad I saw from Christie was all about how Corzine is being so mean and using negative ads. Talk about irony.)

And then I read a NYT article about Corzine and the election. One small phrase stuck innocently in the middle of the article caught my attention. It was about health care.

Let me explain about NJ health care. NJ has some of the tightest health insurance laws and regulations around:

• You can't be denied for having a pre-existing condition. If you've had health insurance and are just switching plans or companies, they can't do anything about pre-existing conditions. If you haven't had health insurance, claims relating to a pre-existing condition won't be paid for the first few months, but after that, everything goes back to normal.



• Insurance companies must pay out in benefits at least 80% of what they get in premiums. This keeps prices in check, but if you turn it upside-down, it also gives the insurance companies incentive to pay claims - the more they pay out, the more they can raise premiums, and the bigger that 20% margin.



• Speaking of claims... Claims must be processed within (I think) 30 days, or else penalty payments start accruing every day over the line. No dithering around, "losing" paperwork, etc.



• All diabetic supplies must be covered as prescription items. Lancets, alcohol swabs, test strips... everything.



• Plans are written by the state. There are a variety of options, and each insurer can choose which of those plans it does (and does not) want to offer. But there's no dodgy language, no question of what is and isn't covered, no mystifying comparison between obscure terms from different companies. You just pick the plan you want, compare rates (published on the state's website), and pick the company you want.

Even with all that, prices are incredibly high. $1/month for a basic individual non-HMO plan that pays out 50% after the deductible. But at least there are protections from a lot of dirty industry tricks. It's not perfect, but it's better than you'll find in most places around the US.

This, by the way, is exactly what's wrong with McCain's plan to allow insurance to be bought across state lines. There are few companies willing to offer plans in NJ, thanks to these laws. Enough that there's competition, but not an overwhelming number. If federal law is changed to allow plans to be bought in other states, companies will stop offering plans in NJ and force people to buy from whatever state has the loosest restrictions.

But here's the part that's relevant about the upcoming election: Since "Republican politician" == "corporate shill", Christie wants to deregulate NJ health insurance.

Which wouldn't worry so much, except that... We're in the middle of a major recession. You may have noticed. You may have also noticed that this tends to make people want a change in leadership. Christie was consistently up in the polls for months. Even now, after scandals and negative ads caused his numbers to drop, it seems to be pretty much a dead heat. With the wild card of an independent candidate taking 10% or so of the vote.

It's not like Corzine is perfect. But you'd think people would remember what happens when you vote Republican. More to the point, with health care being such a hot topic these days, you'd think people would be more aware of and concerned about losing vital consumer protections against insurance companies' dirty tricks.

Speaking of which... there's another political ad I've seen lately. Encouraging NJ voters to call (purportedly Democratic) Senator Robert Menendez to thank him for voting against heath reform (except that they deceptively phrased it as protecting Medicare). At the end, at the bottom of the screen, the fine print mentions that the ad was paid for by... the health insurance lobby. Wonderful.

Comments

[ladymirth.livejournal.com]

Republicans = still nutso shitbags. *shakes head*