Quote:
Originally Posted by rahl
well you must be reading something i'm not because I can verify it's true. Like I said 45 millions americans don't have PRIVATE insurance, some are covered under current govn't plans or are eligible. The real number is closer to 10-15 million, which is still alot i'm not saying it isn't.
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The figures I have seen are that about 25% (10-12 milion) are eligible for Medicaid or S-CHIP.
A large majority of those w/o insurance are small business employees making more than the threshold for those programs, but faced with paying the full cost of insurance w/o employer contributions, which could easily approach or exceed a third of their take home pay.
The other problem? The patchwork nature of state regulations where there is no incentive for private insurers to control costs. In many states, profits (and admin expenses) are tied to a fixed percentage of premiums...so, in fact, if as an insurer, my profits are based directly on a fixed rate of 15% of premiums, there is a built in disincentive to lower premiums....lower premium means less profit....higher premiums means more profit.
It seems to me an insurance exchange of public and private that would encourage greater competition would likely reverse, at least to some degree, those current incentives to keep premiums rising.
IMO, there is no reason to abandon our current employer-based system. The issue is containing costs of those employer-based plans and expanding affordable coverage to those w/o ....and generally, greater competition not only accomplishes that, but it also stimulates greater innovation.