Affordable Health Insurance is ILLEGAL!
By Jonathan Bean on Jun 14, 2008 in Economics, Healthcare
Affordable health insurance is ILLEGAL in many states. The Wall Street Journal, among others, has pointed out how one-thousand-plus mandates in New Jersey balloon the premiums to a figure SIX times as high as Kentucky. Want some health insurance? Gotta buy the gold-plated coverage required by law (hair transplants and all).
Endless government mandates make it illegal to sell affordable health insurance AND mandates also raise health care costs—we all have to pay for insurance that includes such things as infertility treatment. (As the father of two, I don’t need the latter!).
In the late 1980s, I sold health insurance in New England to people who did not have it. Many were self-employed. A young healthy person could buy top-rated major medical for $30/month. That was low enough to encourage my clients to buy. Then, the “progressives” tacked sugar plum mandates onto health insurance and eventually required all companies to take on any one who applied. The result? Costs soared and most private insurance companies withdrew from the state. That made it necessary for the state to create an indemnity pool to cover those without insurance. Guess what? The cost was sky high.
My self-employed brother bought a $30/month policy. Later, he developed two types of cancer, and after the $2,000 maximum out-of-pocket, the insurance company paid everything. Plus his rate did not go up (that’s standard insurance law). But the progressives, concerned about people like him, killed private insurance, his carrier withdrew from the state, and my brother paid ten times as much to the state for its “universal” coverage. That’s the kind of government compassion we could do without. Eventually, my brother figured it was better to work for a large corporation. After all, why create your own business when the government makes it so difficult?
My “progressive” friends argue that it is “nice” to have these things covered in ALL insurance plans. But that’s the one-size-fits-all mentality that got us into this mess. The social democratic goal is universal single payer (government) insurance. They would, if they could. Meanwhile, I’m reminded of the sixties slogan: “the worse, the better”—the worse “progressives” make things in the insurance market (where people have choices), the better their chance at making the “right” choice for us all.
Let’s hope that other states follow Florida’s lead in allowing insurance companies to sell a variety of plans without all the mandates. Yes, it’s “back to the 1980s” and no cure-all, but it is a step in the right direction.
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andhy | Jun 15, 2008 | Reply
Thanks Jonathan, I am 60 wife 56, my company went
out of business, good by health ins. N.Y seems to
be a problem state where no one can be turned down
for ins. premiums are sky high. If we need anything in this country its health care reform,
yea right! Thanks for the article.
Dan Friedman | Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for drawing attention to how government has affected the affordability of health care in America. I am a representative from AARP’s Divided We Fail initiative, and we hope to get people to voice their issues with the current state of health care politics so that there is a change in the right direction. Check out more about DWF at http://www.dividedwefail.org.
Ken Nickell | Jul 1, 2008 | Reply
What you say is true…but Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a hidden gem that may be the answer (or partial answer) to many.
You don’t have to be in perfect health to qualify and I think you’ll see an even bigger push by Congress to educate potential policyholders of the advantages.
Ed Harris | Jul 4, 2008 | Reply
The standard progressive reply would be, But what about all those with pre-existing conditions? It would be harder for them to get insurance, but if there was more competition and companies were able to sell more affordable insurance to the masses, those with pre-existing conditions could seemingly still get insurance, just for a much higher personal cost. Compared to charging everyone for things that few use, I think this of course is the best idea, but many argue that people shouldn’t be penalized for being sick.
Another argument would be that since more could afford the $30 a month comprehensive, affordable insurance, many like your brother would already be covered when they did develop a condition. Now, it’s so expensive that these people don’t buy policies and then can’t get one when they need one.
Libertarian Girl | Oct 10, 2008 | Reply
You are correct — keep in mind the health care “reformers” want private insurance to fail. Higher taxes, mandates are great to price most of those people “out of the market.” Then you have more government reforms for the problem government (largely) created.
This all reminds me of an old sixties radical slogan:
“The worse, the better.”
The worse things get, the better chance we have to radically remake American society. Health care is just one example.
Jonathan Bean | Oct 10, 2008 | Reply
I have reservations about so-called health insurance exchanges. I’m not sure how they are going to offer anything better than what we have now.
AM Hyer | Jun 22, 2009 | Reply
You are exactly right – it is sad that the more often than not when the government steps in to try and regulate something they end up screwing it up so bad it is almost beyond belief.
Health Insurance Providers | Oct 20, 2009 | Reply
I think one thing to learn from this is that when the government gets involved, there are always unintended consequences that affect the people.
Dan H | Nov 5, 2009 | Reply
We are an online health insurance broker and we feel that the only way to save not only the health care of millions but the economy as well is to introduce the single payer system. It is too late for any public plan which is only going to make this situation worse and more expensive. Put me out of business!
jeremy | Nov 7, 2009 | Reply
Most folks have no idea of the great HSA type policies that are available. Uncle Sam has been rumored to try and take those too, take a look before they go away also…
Marc H | Nov 14, 2009 | Reply
HSA’s could down right change every problem we have regarding health care…
Scott B | Nov 14, 2009 | Reply
,..] http://www.independent.org is other useful source on this subject,..]
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