Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Should CA Look East?, Pt.1 – But not MA...

Posted on the Daily Press, the Orange County Register is registering a 2nd opinion. The debate concerning health insurance reform in California continues, after a few unsuccessful bids have fallen through. California is greatly troubled by the high numbers of residents without health insurance. Sacramento has yet to resolve this. Their unpopular approach, thus far, has been to levy a very heavy tax burden on the state. Gov. Schwarzenegger has shortened his game a little since his first bit with a greatly-reduced tax package, but there are still some unhappy residents. The Register’s suggestion here, is to look to the East. They have, pretty-much, rejected the approach taken by Mitt Romney’s bi-partisan Massachusetts plan for its flaws in awarding private health insurance providers free reign to costly premiums with few benefits. All their residents are compelled to accept these plans. Senior fellow with National Center for Policy Analysis, Devon Herrick explains how the policy for a male resident of Massachusetts 37 years old is paying twice as much as he would for the same plan in Dallas, TX. How is this a better way?

So, the suggestion here is to look at the systems in Florida or New Jersey. It is contended that their market-driven approach reduces health insurance premiums greatly. In Florida, the solution would be to allow (inducing competition) health insurance providers to “strip down"  policies to a “no-frills” level. Those insurance companies are relieved of over 50 of the mandates imposed by the state. Some of them are deemed unnecessary by the masses, like chiropractics and acupuncture.

Continued…