Another victim of employer-sponsored insurance
December 3rd, 2008 | by Brian Schwartz |Writes John Graham at StateHouseCall:
The Wall Street Journal ran a disturbing story about the increasing number of people unable to pay medical bills. Some are even having to sell homes in a bad market to raise cash. Of course, the health care and political elites always interpret such harrowing tales as signals to increase government control over health care.
But a discerning reader can see that government has contributed to the problems these people suffer. Let’s look first at Bowen Richards, a 52-year old, self-employed electrician in Florida who lost his health insurance when he divorced. He had been insured through his wife’s employer-based health plan. Because of diabetes, he was unable to buy individual health insurance after the divorce.
Once again, we see the “benefit” of employer-based health care turn into a liability pretty quickly. I don’t hold the government responsible for his divorce, but if the government had allowed his wife’s employer to give pre-tax dollars to the family to buy their own health insurance, with guaranteed renewable premiums, he would have had a better chance of continuing his coverage without underwriting. (See my analysis of Senator McCain’s presidential campaign proposal for a lengthier explanation of the benefits of this critical tax reform.)
Read the whole post here.
tags: employer-sponsored insurance
