Health Insurers want YOU . . . well, your money, at least
Insurance Group Says Health Bill Will Mean Higher Premiums - washingtonpost.com:
This is really a "pox on all their houses" situation. The lily-livered senators aren't willing to make a "mandate" really stick, and the insurers are whining becuase they want to be able to spread their profit margins over that many more million people.
At the end of the day, the answer to the "who should pay to be in the pool" is simple: everyone. We are not willing to deny coverage to those who cannot pay. That means that some significant portion of those who go uninsured will get sick or injured, will get treatment, and will not be able to pay for it. Basic free rider problem, and one of the simpler ones to solve, really. Make everyone pay for insurance, and fine them more than their premiums would have been if they don't.
I don't like mandated private coverage. But it's a hell of a lot better than were we stand today.
Ummm. Duh. If you drive the sicker people into the pool and let the healthier ones stay out, it's going to cost more for the sicker ones.After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected.
. . .
At the heart of the argument is whether the Finance Committee bill does enough to draw young, healthy people into the insurance risk pool. By postponing and reducing penalties on people who do not sign up for health insurance, industry analysts predict it would attract less-healthy patients who would drive up costs.
This is really a "pox on all their houses" situation. The lily-livered senators aren't willing to make a "mandate" really stick, and the insurers are whining becuase they want to be able to spread their profit margins over that many more million people.
At the end of the day, the answer to the "who should pay to be in the pool" is simple: everyone. We are not willing to deny coverage to those who cannot pay. That means that some significant portion of those who go uninsured will get sick or injured, will get treatment, and will not be able to pay for it. Basic free rider problem, and one of the simpler ones to solve, really. Make everyone pay for insurance, and fine them more than their premiums would have been if they don't.
I don't like mandated private coverage. But it's a hell of a lot better than were we stand today.
God, I hate the idea of mandated private coverage. The insurance companies already are allowed to be monopolies. Now we're going to force people to enroll in their programs? Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI realize you probably have good reasons why mandated private coverage is better than we have now (though I still am hoping against despair we'll get a real public option). Maybe in a future post you could outline some reasons mandated private coverage is at least somewhat desirable.