Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Health Insurance, Capitol Hill & Blogs, Pt.10 – Cut costs, but avail all Americans.

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Blogger ' Steve F’ brings out a straightforward observation that is too often overlooked, when he reminds us that “People seem to be missing the main point and that is that health care costs are out of control.” We’re all to quick to blame it on the hapless health insurance companies who are just trying to keep up with the out of control medical costs. We have things inverted, he notes. “[health] insurance premiums are high because the cost of health care is high,” he points out. Here we are, groping for the most expensive life styles and not considering that they come with their own costs. He suggests that cutting costs by simply mandating preventive care is not realistic, because many people will not adhere to it. Although this viewpoint has some validity, it is not a foregone until it’s tested. The Massachusetts health insurance/care model seems to be having some success with it, but hard statistics are not available to yet. His main point, however, is a valid one: “We have to find a way to control the costs involved from all aspects - doctors, hospitals, labs, insurance companies, etc. (including the patients).”

Blogger ' Wendell Murray’ raises a key issue here that needs addressing. The need for ‘large-scale pooling’ is eminent. With large ‘risk-sharing pools, everyone wins. Health insurers gain a large customer base and patients are not ‘singled out’ and rejected. With private health insurance, we don’t get that.

Mr. Murray puts it well when he states that with a strictly private health insurance plan system the “only three main outcomes are:

(1) Dramatically higher costs than otherwise.

(2) Exclusion of 50 million people from any insurance pool.

(3) Denial of benefits in cases where insurance companies want to avoid the cost “

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