If I read it wrong, and Tim wasn't suggesting what I thought he was suggesting, then it must be because I am actually stupid.
IMO, you are just predisposed to resist alternate approaches, which causes you to automatically read alternate suggestion in the most negative light possible rather than listening actively and giving them the benefit of any doubt.
Tim said: "I'd prefer allowing any policy allowed by any state's regulator, to be sold to any one in the country, without also applying federal regulations." If you're so predisposed, you could read that as him desiring all states to have policies sold in all other states, which would be ridiculous. You would feel justified and be justified in objecting to that. But what he had in mind, I'm pretty sure, was only that the prohibition against buying insurance regulated in other states would be eliminated. He discussed in a later post the same notion I was promoting, that a few states would end up regulating the national policies.
then how long will it take for the number of providers and policies to get whittled down in the market?
It would take years, I'm guessing maybe 5 or so, for the scenario to become reasonably clarified and settled in the majority of states.
What I would expect to happen based on industry and state practices I've observed in other regulatory arenas where I have worked is that industry would come up with a synthesized collection of standard national policy elements and states would come up with limited, specific variations and all of that would become boilerplate for policies. (And California would continue to be to a considerable extent an outlier. <g>)
And how much time do you think people have to sit around comparing healthcare plans?
I would expect people to have a number of alternatives similar to or slightly greater than they have now and that there would be web sites, TV ads, and agents that would differentiate them. Sears has TV promotions that claim you can go to their stores and get comparison info on their competitors' dishwashers and refrigerators. Progressive has TV ads that offer comparisons on car insurance. I've used Internet sites that compare cell phone service and steer you to suitable ones. Surely something would develop for health insurance, even if the government were the last resort.
Moreover, is everybody going to be free to change plans whenever they want to? Or are their pre-existing conditions going to preclude that?
One program element per thread, please. Otherwise my brain will explode. <g>
Selling insurance across state lines is one element of a design to meet the reform objective of reducing costs. Helping the cohort with pre-existing conditions is another reform objective, being discussed elsewhere. I don't see any interface between the state-insurance proposal and the pre-existing condition objective. |
