Re: Health Insurance Across State Lines, Competition, and Premium
Maybe, but not necessarily so.
"Pooling" of claims xs of a specified retention level already exists. Most states are large enough from a population perspective to be fully credible even with a relatively small percentage of the market. You only need a few thousand lives to be fully credible.
To allow selling across state lines you have to essentially eliminate regulation of health insurance at the state level. Doing so also eliminates loss of premium tax revenue to the states which would be a major battle.
In spite of what the lamestream media and Congress would have you believe, there is a lot of competition and the more competitive carriers, which are usually the larger ones with deep pockets, can pretty much do anything they want to disrupt the market.
If Blue, already dominant in most markets, decides they want to run Coventry (to pick a small player) out of their market they can do so without batting an eye. In the short run this is good for the consumer. Long run may be different.
Assurant is large enough to dominate but for reasons unknown, instead only have pockets within a state where they are sometimes competitive. A carrier of that size needs to get in or out and quit toying with the idea of running with the big dogs.
One can bring down premiums without totally eliminating state or federal regulation. Simply allow carriers to offer plans with few or no statutory provisions and see what happens. Most consumers will flock to those products with premiums that are 30% or so less than "conventional" plans. Those left in the "compliance" plans will see higher increases due to adverse selection which will further broaden the spread between fully compliant plans and those that are truly bare bones but still cover everything that is really needed by a major medical plan.
Maybe, but not necessarily so.
"Pooling" of claims xs of a specified retention level already exists. Most states are large enough from a population perspective to be fully credible even with a relatively small percentage of the market. You only need a few thousand lives to be fully credible.
To allow selling across state lines you have to essentially eliminate regulation of health insurance at the state level. Doing so also eliminates loss of premium tax revenue to the states which would be a major battle.
In spite of what the lamestream media and Congress would have you believe, there is a lot of competition and the more competitive carriers, which are usually the larger ones with deep pockets, can pretty much do anything they want to disrupt the market.
If Blue, already dominant in most markets, decides they want to run Coventry (to pick a small player) out of their market they can do so without batting an eye. In the short run this is good for the consumer. Long run may be different.
Assurant is large enough to dominate but for reasons unknown, instead only have pockets within a state where they are sometimes competitive. A carrier of that size needs to get in or out and quit toying with the idea of running with the big dogs.
One can bring down premiums without totally eliminating state or federal regulation. Simply allow carriers to offer plans with few or no statutory provisions and see what happens. Most consumers will flock to those products with premiums that are 30% or so less than "conventional" plans. Those left in the "compliance" plans will see higher increases due to adverse selection which will further broaden the spread between fully compliant plans and those that are truly bare bones but still cover everything that is really needed by a major medical plan.
