On December 29th, Mary Carmichael reported for News week on What Health-Care Reform Will Mean for You. She writes:

Two changes will affect people with current private insurance in 2010. One is that they won’t have to worry about maxing out their lifetime medical benefits, because as of six months after enactment, insurance companies won’t be allowed to impose those maximums on anyone. … A second is that people who are frustrated with their plans will have someone to gripe to other than their congressmen: the Senate bill calls for the immediate creation of new state offices that will handle complaints against insurance companies, as well as a new Web site that will explain some of the thornier issues around insurance.

First of all, the bill does not eliminate lifetime medical benefits, it only limits “unreasonable” annual payment limits. What is unreasonable? You’ll have to ask the Secretary of Health and Human Services because she is the one who gets to decide. Second, Carmichael leaves out the fact that no regulation is ever free. Forcing insurance companies to payment maximums will raise everyone’s insurance premiums.

Finally, Carmichael leaves out some other changes that will affect under President Obama’s health care plan in 2010. For example, effective March 1, 2010, physician payments under Medicare will decrease 21%. As the President’s own Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has reported such cuts would lead many doctors to stop accepting Medicare patients entirely, thus severely jeopardizing access to care for all seniors