The U.S. Health Care Debate

[Lemur]

I would be interested in the original for your quote.

Gah! Evil NPR moves teh linkies. Here's the original referencing article.

The This American Life crew [...] has a segment in this weekend’s episode on rescission of health insurance policies — insurers’ established practice of looking for ways to invalidate policies once it turns out that the insured actually needs significant medical care. (The segment is around the 30-minute mark; audio should be available on that page sometime on Monday.) The story describes a couple of particularly egregious cases, such as a woman who was denied breast cancer surgery because she had been treated for acne in the past, and a person whose policy was rescinded because his insurance agent had incorrectly entered his weight on the application form.

[drone]

If I remember correctly, HillaryCare failed because the administration came up with the plan and foisted it on Congress, which balked when their paymasters squealed.

ObamaCare is different, Congress is creating the plan. Which means the lobbyists are in full force, hands extended, trying to get a piece of the pie. This is why ObamaCare should fail, at this point it has nothing to do with getting the best care for the people, just the best deal for the industry. If Obama actually believes that the finished product will reduce the overall medical expenditures of government programs and improve care of patients, he's more naive than I thought.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Gah! Evil NPR moves teh linkies. Here's the original referencing article.

We should simply make a law only allowing rescission in the first month or two after being granted insurance.

CR

[Banquo's Ghost]

Thanks, Lemur. Fascinating.

We should simply make a law only allowing rescission in the first month or two after being granted insurance.

That was my first thought but then wouldn't the insurance companies just front load the costs and healthcare get even more expensive?

[Xiahou]

That was my first thought but then wouldn't the insurance companies just front load the costs and healthcare get even more expensive?

Front load how?

Want an example of how screwed up our system is? I am currently unemployed. I shopped around and found insurance that provided better coverage than what I had under my employer and cost less than what my share of the monthly premium (which was about 1/3 of what the total monthly charge was) for my employee sponsored insurance was. Rather than providing economies of scale, as you suggested, employer coverage quite often costs more because healthy individuals have to pay more to even out the premiums of high health risk employees.

What's even better is that were I still employed and if I wanted to refuse my employer's coverage and purchase this private plan, I would be prohibited from doing so. I would be free to refuse my employer's coverage, but just being eligible for it would make me ineligible for purchasing an individual plan.

Sadly, ObamaCare, from what I've seen, does nothing to address any of this insanity. The simplest thing we could do to reform our dysfunctional healthcare would be to separate medical insurance from employers.

Hence our current confusion. Two hundred years ago, only rich folks were treated by Doc's. One hundred years ago, local (neighborhood or small town) Gen Practioners did the job - often as a town employee. Sixty years ago, the auto companies spear-headed the drive to keep their sizeable workforce stable by keeping them healthier, so purchased bulk group insurance as a job perquisite (and at first, doctors and nurses on the job site), as you've said. Other industrial companies followed suit. HMO's got invented in the 1970's, merging doctors, hospitals and insurance together into an uneasy alliance, to serve industry.

Don't forget about how employee medical benefits were popularized as a way around FDR's wage controls since they weren't treated as income....

[Banquo's Ghost]

Front load how?

I would assume that premium costs would go up high enough to cover the profits now made by recission.

Want an example of how screwed up our system is? I am currently unemployed. I shopped around and found insurance that provided better coverage than what I had under my employer and cost less than what my share of the monthly premium (which was about 1/3 of what the total monthly charge was) for my employee sponsored insurance was. Rather than providing economies of scale, as you suggested, employer coverage quite often costs more because healthy individuals have to pay more to even out the premiums of high health risk employees.

What's even better is that were I still employed and if I wanted to refuse my employer's coverage and purchase this private plan, I would be prohibited from doing so. I would be free to refuse my employer's coverage, but just being eligible for it would make me ineligible for purchasing an individual plan.

Sadly, ObamaCare, from what I've seen, does nothing to address any of this insanity. The simplest thing we could do to reform our dysfunctional healthcare would be to separate medical insurance from employers.

Don't forget about how employee medical benefits were popularized as a way around FDR's wage controls since they weren't treated as income....

That's an example of why I am concerned about the model. One might be able to judge if private insurance funded healthcare worked if there was a decently free market - the insurance companies would be competing to lower prices and increase cover security. However, they would also cherry pick the very best risks - and so even more citizens would be left without cover.

[Crazed Rabbit]

That's an example of why I am concerned about the model. One might be able to judge if private insurance funded healthcare worked if there was a decently free market - the insurance companies would be competing to lower prices and increase cover security. However, they would also cherry pick the very best risks - and so even more citizens would be left without cover.

Or those people who smoked and didn't exercise would simply have to pay more, as with automobile insurance, where people who crash and get speeding tickets pay more.

I would assume that premium costs would go up high enough to cover the profits now made by recission.

Are they making a significant amount of revenue from that? I'm just guessing, but I don't think they'd be a large rise in premiums.

CR

[Lemur]

Well, if you want to see what it looks like when the government imposes insurance mandates and does nothing to control costs, just look at MA. Ir don't work. Or hell, look at Medicare Part D.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

IThat's an example of why I am concerned about the model. One might be able to judge if private insurance funded healthcare worked if there was a decently free market - the insurance companies would be competing to lower prices and increase cover security. However, they would also cherry pick the very best risks - and so even more citizens would be left without cover.

Insurance uses sub-standard ratings to insure higher risk applicants and/or exclusions of certain specific risk factors in an otherwise complete coverage package. I suspect that you wouldn't see a very great increase in the number of uninsureds, though the premium cost would be allocated quite differently.