Masochist that I am, I’ve been perusing the Dems 2008 draft platform again. I can’t help myself. This thing is like a horrible accident from which I cannot avert my eyes.
It’s really astonishing that they could get so many irretrievably bad ideas into a single document. The one that caught my eye this morning was the call for an “end to to insurance discrimination”:
Health insurance plans should accept all applicants and be prohibited from charging different prices based on pre-existing conditions.
By using the term “discrimination,” the platform committee has couched this provision in the vernacular of “social justice,” but they’re really just rebranding an old regulatory boondoggle known as “guaranteed issue.”
A number of states have already enacted guaranteed-issue laws, and the end result is always a dramatic increase in premiums for everyone. Plus, as Michael New of the Heritage Foundation points out:
Many insurers quit offering insurance in states with guaranteed-issue laws, and the lack of competition results in still-higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.
Anyone think it’s a good idea to force the whole country to pay the huge insurance premiums now borne by the hapless residents of guaranteed-issue states like Massachusetts and New Jersey?
Well, a federal law ending “insurance discrimination” would produce that very result.
Comments 4
What do you mean, guaranteed issue causes an increase in premium? Geez, before guarantee issue you would pay close to $100 per month for a group policy in Texas.
Posted 18 Aug 2008 at 4:38 pm ¶I guess I lost my head.
Posted 18 Aug 2008 at 6:03 pm ¶OK - here’s a question for you. If you’re saying costs will go up - and you’re already spending approaching twice the GDP on healthcare of other developed nations - where is all the money going?
Posted 19 Aug 2008 at 1:14 pm ¶Actually, as Jeff Goldsmith points out here, costs have flattened in most sectors. As to where the money goes, he offers the following:
And, by the way, British, French, and Canadian health costs (as a percentage of GDP) are increasing at a rate that will cause them to catch up to us within the next decade.
Posted 19 Aug 2008 at 2:03 pm ¶Post a Comment