Will Healthcare reform erode state sovereignty?
Al Ritter
There seems to be a war cry from the uninformed to allow interstate purchasing of health insurance, but that isn’t possible, let me explain why.
Interstate health insurance
Each state has their own mandates and requirements to insurance companies to sell insurance in their states. It is no coincidence that the more liberal states make more things or higher limits a requirement in their states. With that being said it would be impossible to buy say, Texas health insurance in Massachusetts. Now major health insurance companies are licensed in multiple states, but the requirements are massively different from state to state.
Al Ritter
There seems to be a war cry from the uninformed to allow interstate purchasing of health insurance, but that isn’t possible, let me explain why.
Interstate health insurance
Each state has their own mandates and requirements to insurance companies to sell insurance in their states. It is no coincidence that the more liberal states make more things or higher limits a requirement in their states. With that being said it would be impossible to buy say, Texas health insurance in Massachusetts. Now major health insurance companies are licensed in multiple states, but the requirements are massively different from state to state.
State Sovereignty
Health insurance, car insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid, are but a few areas that a state has control over. Your state controls what is required, what the limits are, and how federal money is divided. The HR 3200 bill hasn’t even addressed this question of state’s rights on this issue.
It’s no coincidence
It’s no coincidence that the states with the highest liberal agendas have faced health insurance rates so high that their politicians were faced with instituting some form of socialized medicine. Enter Massachusetts and Hawaii, the top two liberal states in the union. Massachusetts’s socialized program is as well known as the skyrocketing cost to continue it. Hawaii tried socialized medicine but to their credit, experimented with children’s insurance first. They tried to offer a program for kids caught in between Medicare and private insurance. It failed because people who could actually afford insurance for their children bailed out on their private plans and flocked to the “free” insurance, thereby flooding the system. The socialized part of the health care was dropped.
It’s no coincidence that the states with the highest liberal agendas have faced health insurance rates so high that their politicians were faced with instituting some form of socialized medicine. Enter Massachusetts and Hawaii, the top two liberal states in the union. Massachusetts’s socialized program is as well known as the skyrocketing cost to continue it. Hawaii tried socialized medicine but to their credit, experimented with children’s insurance first. They tried to offer a program for kids caught in between Medicare and private insurance. It failed because people who could actually afford insurance for their children bailed out on their private plans and flocked to the “free” insurance, thereby flooding the system. The socialized part of the health care was dropped.
Where will we go
The mandates and age are the two actuarial variables that insurance companies use to set rates, but no specifics have surfaced so far from Congress. Because the majority of Congress is liberal, one has to wonder if the agenda of states like Massachusetts and Hawaii will be mandated or will the need to reduce costs over ride the liberal agenda.
The mandates and age are the two actuarial variables that insurance companies use to set rates, but no specifics have surfaced so far from Congress. Because the majority of Congress is liberal, one has to wonder if the agenda of states like Massachusetts and Hawaii will be mandated or will the need to reduce costs over ride the liberal agenda.
Health Insurance appeals
Under H.R. 3200 your home state’s health insurance commissioner will become extinct as the absolute decision of the federal plan is final,….NO APPEALS!
So many questions, and so few answers.
2 comments:
Exactly right, Al. And further, what rights limited by each state's Constitution is reserved for the people. Trying to legislate health status rather than health care has shown never to work (e.g., Prohibition, the war on drugs), even if ostensibly it is 'for our own good.' The travesty being presented by the House and Senate is abrogating our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as we see it.
Great article, Bless you, and keep up the good fight.
What state sovereignty? Governors have been allowing the federal government to absorb more power and control with each passing administration. Why? The number one reason is because it is cheaper on the state.
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