Health Care Portal May Be a Bust
Nov 19, 2008 by KCPW
(KCPW News by Faroe Robinson) The Utah Association of Health Underwriters will report to the legislature's Health and Human Services Committee today on its efforts to create an internet-based health care portal. But President-elect Ernie Sweat doesn't think the portal will do what the legislature may be hoping for."What we are afraid of is that we ultimately throw a lot of tax dollars at something that is going to miss the mark as far as what we are trying to accomplish. I believe that the spirit of the law was to help reduce the number of uninsured. I don't see a whole lot in the proposal so far that is going to reduce the number of uninsured, I really don't, and I do think that if that is your intention I do believe there going to be an abject failure," Sweat said.
Sweat says the portal won't reach out to the uninsured because he believes they choose not to be insured. He feels the portal will only help those who are actively seeking insurance to be able to evaluate different companies.
The portal was also intended to make health care more affordable by promoting competition among commercial health insurers. Sweat believes the portal wouldn't bring down costs by competition, but could bring down costs for individuals by educating them about the government programs they are eligible for.
"The problem is, we do a very bad job on educating people on what is available and what they qualify for. The purpose of our portal is to actually have a one stop shop where before you even start looking for any type of a private program it starts to ask some screening questions that will actually determine if you qualify for some public programs," Sweat said.
Sweat says the portal will help to simplify the health insurance enrollment process, and feels it cannot succeed without the cooperation of the legislature and government offices.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2009 KCPW
1. Stratocaster said:
Why is Mr. Sweat bashing his own organization's project? As president-elect, can't he fix it? Isn't he directly responsible for doing so?
I thought we had gotten over that urban myth about the uninsured "choosing" to be uninsured. Ask my brother, who along with thousands of others will be losing his coverage when his bankrupt employer ceases operations early next year.
3. Mike said:
Actually Ernie Sweat did do a presentation to the insurance task force. He got good reviews and comments. They wanted to know if he submitted his plan to the governor's RFP. There are allot of people that are young guys that just don't want insurance and won't buy it through their employer. They would rather spend it on their truck.
2. Boy! said:
Funny thing is that this story was written in advance of the meeting. They did not actually report to the committee. Hmmm.