Health Insurance Debate

yokeyoke Posts: 1,440
edited August 2009 in A Moving Train
Now I for one am not for the Public Option, but lets put that aside for now. Why can't we allow Insurance companies to compete for our business? Why can't an Insurance carrier in lets say North Carolina give me insurance in NJ? Why do we have this Federal Law that can't they cross state lines? I would think that the more competition out there it would drive prices down and it would be good for the consumer. That is just my opinion and I have heard it only stated maybe once or twice in this debate. Is this not an option?

Thoughts?
Thats a lovely accent you have. New Jersey?

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Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • fifefife Posts: 3,327
    yoke wrote:
    Now I for one am not for the Public Option, but lets put that aside for now. Why can't we allow Insurance companies to compete for our business? Why can't an Insurance carrier in lets say North Carolina give me insurance in NJ? Why do we have this Federal Law that can't they cross state lines? I would think that the more competition out there it would drive prices down and it would be good for the consumer. That is just my opinion and I have heard it only stated maybe once or twice in this debate. Is this not an option?

    Thoughts?

    lets just say that a person goes to the hospital for a brain tumor, teh hospital says it will cost $100,000 for the operation. the insurance company says that they can't afford this becuase they are not charging too high a fee. what happens? person dies or company goes bankrupt.

    you have to limit the amount of money a hospital can change for certain things. if you did that, you can lower teh price of insurance and then competition will work.
  • The only issue I have with competition across state lines, is the problems that it would cause with doctors/hospitals as far as paperwork and bureaucracy.

    A friend of mine is a doctor and complains a lot about his (and his staff's) daily dealings with health insurance companies... different companies use different forms, and have different limits and rules, etc... While more companies competing for our business is probably good for us, I can't imagine the headaches (and increased administrative costs) that would be caused by dealing with that many more insurance companies.

    I would imagine that most doctors would just keep their "local" providers and not accept many more new ones from other states.
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  • yokeyoke Posts: 1,440
    The only issue I have with competition across state lines, is the problems that it would cause with doctors/hospitals as far as paperwork and bureaucracy.

    A friend of mine is a doctor and complains a lot about his (and his staff's) daily dealings with health insurance companies... different companies use different forms, and have different limits and rules, etc... While more companies competing for our business is probably good for us, I can't imagine the headaches (and increased administrative costs) that would be caused by dealing with that many more insurance companies.

    I would imagine that most doctors would just keep their "local" providers and not accept many more new ones from other states.


    Yes bureaucracy is what scares me, and I feel it will only get worse with the public option or Co-Ops they are talking about. I understand what you are talking about and I have some friends in the medical field and they have said these things to me as well. My one friends practice doesn't take Medicare or Medicaid as it is because of the mess of paperwork.

    Lets say that if the Gov allows you to purchase insurance over state lines. Can maybe things get standardized a bit like paperwork,billing,coding etc... Hell in the computer field they did it with the IEEE standards, why can't it be done in the medical field?
    Thats a lovely accent you have. New Jersey?

    www.seanbrady.net
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    help me understand the benefit of selling insurance across state lines...what's preventing an insurance company from providing a plan in all states...? from what I've read, a concern about selling insurance across state lines is that some states have lax laws, therefore the for-profit insurance companies will set up shop in a "friendly" state and screw those who live in a not so friendly state....

    here's something I found about the subject...

    http://www.newamerica.net/pressroom/200 ... not_answer
  • yokeyoke Posts: 1,440
    inmytree wrote:
    help me understand the benefit of selling insurance across state lines...what's preventing an insurance company from providing a plan in all states...? from what I've read, a concern about selling insurance across state lines is that some states have lax laws, therefore the for-profit insurance companies will set up shop in a "friendly" state and screw those who live in a not so friendly state....

    here's something I found about the subject...

    http://www.newamerica.net/pressroom/200 ... not_answer


    Not sure, I would think competition would be the benefit. I will read the report, it looks to only be 18 pages so I will read it later after dinner. Thanks for the link...
    Thats a lovely accent you have. New Jersey?

    www.seanbrady.net
  • blondieblue227blondieblue227 Va, USA Posts: 4,509
    There is a plan to computerize all this paperwork isn’t there?
    *~Pearl Jam will be blasted from speakers until morale improves~*

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