Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

New Business for Insurers, Pt.6 – Universal health insurance may be needed.

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One last, but crucial note concerns universal health insurance. The proposals of President-elect Obama have been praised, for the most part, by the experts. One common criticism from those experts, however is that, even though his plan goes a long way, it still does not go far enough to cover all of the 45 million Americans with no health insurance. They say his proposal to overhaul the health-care system isn’t ambitious enough. Even Congress is promoting universal health insurance.

What’s so important about this issue is the stance of the health insurance industry. Although there are some divisions among them, there tends to be ultimate consensus among the big players. Large players like Aetna, Blue Shield of California and Cigna, all support requiring all people to buy health insurance. They are poised to wage a battle over a mandate requiring that they to deny no one coverage; unless that also means ‘all must be covered’. Otherwise, the insurers would be stuck covering only the most expensive, while the less expensive clients would not carry coverage at all.

Even the rivals in the industry who oppose universal health insurance agree that it's necessary, if the insurers are required to accept all applicants. CEO of Aetna, Ron Williams sums it by saying that costs would spiral, otherwise. "We need everyone in the insurance pool," he says.

The congressional team under Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon are well aware of both the industrial and societal climates. That is why their “Healthy Americans Act” bill leans so heavily toward universal health insurance.

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