@traceye: Insurance companies compete on price. Throw out or limit mental to 20 days and all of the people on pain meds don't get treated. Eliminate maternity especially if you can limit coverage for premees and you save a bunch of money. Once the 1st carrier goes all others follow suit. Witness how many are paying commission on individual business.
Throw plan design back to the states and it will mostly fall to the carriers because no one else has the data and knowledge. As far as old males or fat old ladies paying for maternity, they really don't because at some level, ALL premiums are a reflection of expected claims. We had this discussion and someone pointed out that old rates were a multiple of younger rates. Maternity multiplied is the same as paying for maternity. In that case, illnesses of being an old male gets pushed back through the system. It don't matter in the end. Allocation of a cost is by definition arbitrary.
Throw plan design back to the states and it will mostly fall to the carriers because no one else has the data and knowledge. As far as old males or fat old ladies paying for maternity, they really don't because at some level, ALL premiums are a reflection of expected claims. We had this discussion and someone pointed out that old rates were a multiple of younger rates. Maternity multiplied is the same as paying for maternity. In that case, illnesses of being an old male gets pushed back through the system. It don't matter in the end. Allocation of a cost is by definition arbitrary.