Friday, March 19, 2010
Yup, another Agreed-on Lie
C-Span interview this morning with Cutler, a Harvard prof involved in setting up the Infinite Monopoly For Insurance Companies Act Of 2010. He says the reason for the mandate is to prevent young healthy folks from going without insurance until the moment they get sick or injured. "Otherwise, you'd call up an insurance company on the way to the hospital." And the brand-R talking point heads have been hitting this as well, obviously from the other angle. "Why shouldn't you be able to get insurance when you need it?"
Both are wrong, because AS THINGS NOW STAND you CAN'T get insurance at the moment when you need it. Individual insurance has a waiting period, typically 90 days, which makes complete sense. Perfectly rational limitation.
So this mandate is based on an assumed situation that DOES NOT EXIST.
Cutler mentioned one important and true fact, never acknowledged by either so-called quote """"side"""" unquote:
There's no logical reason why individual coverage should cost more than group coverage.
Polistra discussed this in detail last year. In short: The insurance company is the only risk pool. Employers don't "pre-pool" the risk; they don't do anything but send the claim forms along. In fact the employer-based system is more risky, because an employer often keeps a good worker on board despite large family medical expenses, while the individual customer can be ruthlessly dropped. ¶ 7:43 AM
Both are wrong, because AS THINGS NOW STAND you CAN'T get insurance at the moment when you need it. Individual insurance has a waiting period, typically 90 days, which makes complete sense. Perfectly rational limitation.
So this mandate is based on an assumed situation that DOES NOT EXIST.
Cutler mentioned one important and true fact, never acknowledged by either so-called quote """"side"""" unquote:
There's no logical reason why individual coverage should cost more than group coverage.
Polistra discussed this in detail last year. In short: The insurance company is the only risk pool. Employers don't "pre-pool" the risk; they don't do anything but send the claim forms along. In fact the employer-based system is more risky, because an employer often keeps a good worker on board despite large family medical expenses, while the individual customer can be ruthlessly dropped. ¶ 7:43 AM
