Tim,
Out of the goodness of their hearts, New York State politicians banned a practice where insurance company would charge you based on your risk analysis. For example, young adults are the lowest rist, since their medical expenses are the smallest. Old people nearing retirement are the most expensive for insurance companies.
So New York State banned companies from giving inexpensive rates to healthy young. So the companies started charging young adults much higher rates, something like the average. Then, of course, the healhy young people dropped their insurance (since most people pay at least portion of the insurance), and the insurance companies ended up with much older and sicker pool of people.
Also, I don't know all the details, but there was some talk about forcing insurance companies to pay for very expensive procedures, making the only option for a person to buy the Cadillac version of health insurance while Chevy level products is what people like to buy the most (since that's all most people can afford).
Add super ambulance chaser friendly and union friendly environment, and that's what you get.
The end result of the good heart of our politicians is that health insurance for a family is somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000 per year, which is about as much or more the lowest income earners earn.
Joe |
