Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Nominees’ Update on Health Insurance, Pt.5 – ‘Pan, into the fire’ effect?

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All those health insurance companies, as with the credit card issuing banks, will want to take full advantage of this loophole so they can command the private health insurance market on their own terms. Of course this is expected to drive health insurance costs down. Even Mr. McCain has addressed this, when he said all these state regulations on health insurance do is to "prevent the best companies, with the best plans and lowest prices, from making their product available to any American who wants it." Now that may be the ‘sizzle’, but here are the ‘meat and potatoes’.

The well-known segment called the ‘uninsured’ 45 million Americans seems, pretty-much, a household word today. A new significant segment called the ‘underinsured’ comprising about 27 million more Americans is finally reaching the spotlight. These are the Americans who currently have health insurance, but are often found to be in worse shape then those with no health insurance. For a more complete explanation as to why, please refer to the Major 'Underinsured' Sector series from June.

Whether Mr. McCain is an expert on economics or not (depending on which speech you’re referring to) he’s probably right about health insurance premium rates falling. With few or no state-mandated consumer protections enforceable, policies will be marketed to the masses that are worse than most of the inadequate policies today purchased by the ‘underinsured’. Would this have the effect of simply shifting millions from the ‘uninsured’ segment into the ‘underinsured segment? Recall that the ‘underinsured’ are commonly found to be worse off that the ‘uninsured’. Would this have a ‘pan, into the fire’ effect? The wise will be looking for these answers up front.

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