Tag Archives: guaranteed issue

Health insurance: employers want to attract healthy employees, avoid sick

With the current regulations … a rational employer has strong incentives to find every legal way possible to attract employees who are healthy and avoid those who are sick Continue reading

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SB 11-128: Colorado government compels insurers to sell plans to kids

Colorado authorities are forcing insurers to sell child-only health plans to parents, and at the same price regardless of the child’s health risk. This encourages insurers to cater to healthy people & underprovide to the sick. Continue reading

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Colorado Consumer Health Initiative misleads again

It’s been illegal to drop coverage when someone gets sick since 1997. The 2010 health control bill did not change this, despite what Dede de Percin of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative says. Continue reading

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Ten Small-Scale Reforms For Pre-existing (Chronic) Conditions

Instead of more political meddling in insurance markets like guaranteed issue and community rating, the following free-market-oriented reforms would help alleviate the problems with pre-existing conditions.  From John Goodman at the Health Affairs Blog: Encourage Portable Insurance. Allow Special Health … Continue reading

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Beware of incremental health care “reform”

Sheldon Richman makes the case in The Freeman: Opponents of (more) government control of health care and health insurance are breathing a sigh of relief after Tuesday’s upset senatorial election in Massachusetts. But now that the celebrations are subsiding, I … Continue reading

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Health care bill: fewer insured, higher premiums

Obama Care – more uninsured, higher premiums, writes economist Martin Feldstein in the Washington Post: A key feature of the House and Senate health bills would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions. The new coverage … Continue reading

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Health reform bill and preexisting conditions

Section 211-213 of HR 3962 basically says that insurance companies must offer coverage (guaranteed issue) and charge the same premium (community rating) to everyone regardless of their medical history.  The November 8  Daily Camera (Boulder, CO) printed my brief opposition … Continue reading

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Attracting the healthy and avoiding the sick

John Goodman makes an excellent point about what happens when government forced insurers to charge the same price to everyone, regardless of their risk: they seek to avoid the sick and attract the healthy: …think about everything you would like … Continue reading

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The health care reform death spiral

James C. Capretta has a fine description of what economists call the “death spiral” that results from requiring insurers to issue policies to everyone (guaranteed issue) at prices that do not reflect their health risks (community rating). It’s happened in … Continue reading

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The unfree market in health care

The greatest trick that supporters of socialized medicine ever played was to convince the American people we don’t already have it. Continue reading

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