This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Medical Practice  • Health Policy  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: The article by Dr Palmisano and colleagues¹ on expanding insurance through tax credits appears to be an attempt to save a sinking ship by finding more buckets instead of doing something to hold back the water. Specifically, the authors state that "the Achilles heel of individual insurance markets has been adverse selection." However, when asked, consumers respond that the "Achilles heel" of their insurance is the high cost of deductibles and the co-payment provisions² as well as the high premium cost. Even with good insurance coverage, the average family can pay thousands of dollars annually in out-of-pocket medical expenses before the insurance coverage kicks in. Add to that the co-payment for a major illness, and the average family can easily face financial ruin.

The plan proposed by Palmisano et al does not address this problem. More insurance plans for more people will not cure this problem; that . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Werner Reis, MD, JD
werner@warshafsky.com
Milwaukee, Wis

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLES

The AMA Health Insurance Proposal
Ole J. Thienhaus
JAMA. 2004;292(10):1173.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The AMA Health Insurance Proposal—Reply
Donald J. Palmisano and David W. Emmons
JAMA. 2004;292(10):1173-1174.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT