Pros/cons of Obama's health bill for Guam

by Michele Catahay

Guam - With President Barack Obama's Health Reform Bill passing yet another hurdle in the U.S. Senate, local officials are wondering what this could mean to the people of Guam.  The new bill is to extend and cover up to 30 million Americans without adding a dime to the federal deficit.

Guam Medical Association President-Elect Dr. Thomas Shieh says the health reform bill could be good for Guam since it could set better insurance regulations for providers. The problem is that it would allow the expansion of Medicaid and MIP, which could ultimately be a bad thing.

He said, "What happens is that when they expand the Medicaid, it goes into the population and some of the middle class and what it does is that it creates more dependency in the Medicaid system. We should be trying to get people off the Medicaid system. Not many doctors on Guam accept Medicaid or MIP. So that's going to be a problem. If you get more people in the Medicaid or MIP system, they become more dependent on the government. We should not try to do that."

Dr. Shieh says the good part is that the passage would keep premiums down, there would be no pre-existing conditions, no cap limits, and create better coverage for patients.  Ultimately, he says, he wants to see how the president will act on such a bill.  "I think it's going to be exciting to see what Obama does. I know as the president, he has been working really hard and when he first ran for office, there were doubts on what he can do and at the end of the day, he did get the Nobel Prize. We hope that he can actually make this happen."

Meantime, Calvo's SelectCare Health Administrator Frank Campillo says while Obama's goal is to increase coverage for Americans and reduce costs, the bill could potentially force insurance companies to increase costs.  "Guam is going to benefit from this because more people are going to be covered by the Medicaid. On the other hand, the issue of cost-cutting, I don't think the secondary goal has been met. It will be very difficult to meet. In fact, I predict that cost is going to go up," he explained.

"Some health plans, in fact many of the health plans on Guam, have limits on off island maximums, limits on cardio maximums. So if we eliminate these maximums, that's going to create an increase in costs for the buyers of health care."

Both the House and Senate bills will also create a penalty for employers and individuals if they don't buy health insurance. In addition, Campillo says there are concerns that the country will be forced to increase taxes to make up for those costs. But in the end, both Dr. Shieh and Campillo say they hope the bill will ultimately benefit the people of Guam.