Why Does Obama Want To Raise Natoma Canfield's Health Insurance Costs?

Cancer patient Natoma Canfield is today's latest hostage for health care Obama is holding up, that despite possibly breaking the law in releasing a private letter from her to the media back on March 5th.

He'll speak Monday at a recreation and senior center in Strongsville, outside Cleveland.

Strongsville is the home of cancer patient Natoma Canfield, who wrote the president she gave up her health insurance after it rose to $8,500 a year. Canfield's sister, Connie Anderson, is scheduled to introduce the president at the event.

A reference to the HIPAA issue via a previous NRO post. But we know the laws don't apply to Democrats, especially when trying to score political points with misinformation.

According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Mrs. Natoma Canfield of Medina, Ohio, had just written a letter to the president describing her plight. Fifty years old, Mrs. Canfield was employed when she was diagnosed with cancer 16 years ago. Twelve years ago, she lost her job, took COBRA benefits, and then migrated to an individual policy (likely under Ohio law, which guarantees her access to either and Ohio Basic or Ohio Standard plan, without underwriting). I hope this was a set-up. (If it wasn't, I suspect that Mr. Gibbs and perhaps even the president have violated the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, but we'll let the lawyers worry about that.)

Also, as NRO points out, it's government regulation that led to Canfield's premiums going up in the first place - not that we can expect Obama to employ facts when making a misleading emotional appeal meant to keep him from looking like the failure he's been so far.

The president's response to Mrs. Canfield should have gone something like this:

"I regret that the tax policies of the United States government make it impossible for health insurers to pool risks properly, like they do for life insurance. Life insurance policies, which are owned by individuals, offer fixed premiums.

If the government stopped discriminating against individual ownership of health insurance, instead of favoring employer ownership, health insurers would be able and motivated to offer insurance policies that guaranteed long-term premium increases no greater than the increase in overall medical costs. Unfortunately, because the median individual health-insurance policy only lasts for three years, people like yourself, who have had individual insurance for over a decade, lose the benefits of long-term risk pooling.

The reality is, what Obama is proposing is only going to drive her costs up even more, assuming her business generates an acceptable level of income in the first place. That's precisely what happened after the implementation of universal coverage in Massachusetts. But Obama knows he can't get his way based upon the facts. Misleading the public and playing on their heart strings is the only way he can sell his bad bill. Kill the bill and perhaps even save the Natoma Canfield's of the world from the even higher costs they will see under Obama Care - if we could enact some prudent reforms before getting the government out of the way. That's the compassionate thing to do, along with the truth.

Just a year after the universal coverage law passed, The New York Times reported, state insurers were already jacking up rates to twice the national average. According to Dr. Paul Hsieh, a physician and founding member of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine, 43 mandatory benefits — including those that many people did not want or need, such as invitro fertilization — raised the costs of coverage for Massachusetts residents by as much as 56 percent, depending upon an individual’s income status. So much for “affordable” health care.

Comments

[buckjohnson]

Why jeep doing this. Even the repubs admit btaht the insurance companies are the evil ones in this fight. Noboday wants to side with the insurance companies. Nobody. You are doing exactly what the insurance companies do...find loopholes, etc.. do deny coverage. I have great HC insurance, but I tell storis about denials, (esp. when it comes to my son), loops they had me jump through for approval, tims they intially denied, then admitted to their mistake that I was covered. Just face it, insurance co are the issue. It is the how that we are after. Do not denigrate private citizens who do not have the ability to fight through the loopholes. Just admit that they are there, pray, and move on.

[buckjohnson]

Why defend insurance companies and not this woman. This is plain silly

[Live Free Or Die]

O-bah-muhh is using Ms. Canfield as a human shield in his propaganda war for the Gov't. takeover of DeathCare.

[buckjohnson]

ok.. the only reason this woman is dying is because she is an American citizen. In almost every country, including the one about 100 miles from where I live, she would be have hd HC.

[John Paul]

She is a housekeeper. I want to know if she pays income tax on her earnings. Bet ya a cookie she hasn't.

Also, if she couldn't afford to keep her policy when it was $500/month, how is Obama's discounted group policy going to help her? She still wouldn't have been able to afford it, she still would have dropped the coverage and she still would have needed the operation on the taxpayer's dime.

Look, I don't like paying for my health insurance either. No one does. But it's important to so I and millions of other Americans pay our premiums monthly. Would I like to keep the monthly premium and instead buy a large screen tv? Or go on a cruise? Heck yeah, but that would be a bad move. Hard to feel sorry for someone who knows she is at risk, drops her coverage and then...boo hoo...can't afford the operation. I agree that coverage can be expensive, but heh, here's a new concept for those who need more money...get a second job! (Here ya go - try this: http://www.Professions.Com )

C'mon! Why are we wasting our time on this? Don't we have two wars to fight with Iran building a nuclear bomb?

[Kajita]

John Paul wrote:

"Hard to feel sorry for someone who knows she is at risk, drops her coverage and then...boo hoo...can't afford the operation. I agree that coverage can be expensive, but heh, here's a new concept for those who need more money...get a second job!"

John Paul, I work in a hospital where I deal with hundreds of patients who have life-threatening illnesses. I've seen the poorest families living below the poverty line, and the richest investors with millions in income. Every single one of them has had to deal with the financial hardship of an operation, procedure, medication, and repeat treatments that come along with things like cancer. Furthermore, just about everyone of them has lost work because of weakness from the treatment, time spent in recovery, or pain from the disease. So, on behalf of the patients I treat everyday, I have a suggestion for you...

Go to the local hospital and find one of those hazardous disposal bins filled with used syringes. Stick yourself with a bunch of them until you contract hepititis. Then, when your insurance rates skyrocket...boo hoo...and you're so weak you start coughing up blood just walking up stairs, just get yourself a second job! what a concept!

[buckjohnson]

Kajita, great post. John Paul clearly did not think first before he did. He won't be back or respond. Thanks.

[Fred Beloit]

Kajita, I know you are aware that poor desperate illegal aliens are in need of your medical treatment today? Why don't you volunteer to work weekends and some nights for free? That would help lower hospital costs.
But I do have a question about your comment. You say the poorest patients are now receiving treatment. Therefore, you are not arguing that the Sick Care Destruction bill will allow the poorest to be treated. You seem to be arguing that the bill will somehow replace the salaries or incomes lost because of being ill. I'm afraid you have been badly misinformed. The bill will do no such thing. What a shame you don't know what you are talking about. Oh and by the way, why don't you stick a needle up your own sorry and misinformed axx?

[Medina woman]

I am also a self-employed woman from Medina, Ohio. There are some other questions that should be asked about Natoma Canfield:

(1) How is she able to pay $3,200 a year in real estate taxes, but not able to pay for health insurance? (Medina County, Ohio Auditor tax bills are online for the public to see. By the way, the name on her home is Natoma Burnside.)

(2) Has anybody inquired whether she sought replacement coverage? You see, my health insurance, also with Anthem like hers, went up by almost the same percentage. It also was an individual (i.e., a non-employer plan). We immediately started looking around for replacement coverage the day we received the notice of premium increase. At the same time, our insurance agent located in the City of Medina, was appalled by the increase, and proactively called us and said "We can get you a better deal." And they did -- we went with Medical Mutual and now pay LESS than we did last year with Anthem -- and WE HAVE BETTER COVERAGE TERMS. Did Ms. Canfield attempt to get a replacement policy? If so, she might have been better off.

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