No offense, LA, but your working in the industry in no way discounts what I've said.
No offense taken. Likewise no offense but I will have to address your points here.
First bolded sentence: Just what are these "other options more geared toward their needs?" People with pre-existing conditions need HEALTH INSURANCE. There ARE no other options.
This is a huge misconception, while high risk companies are hard to find and usually quite expensive they exist and some are actually competitive when compared to the standard risk coverage models, one of the more comptetive I've seen is a product called Per4mance. The worst premium I saw was around 4 hundred a month, this is for the worst of health problems and not at all unreasonable considering. One disclaimer is that this was a year or two ago and their rates may have changed.
Second bolded portion: It's not common sense at all. It is common sense that young people with many other priorities for their money who are NOT covered by group plans are quite healthy and simply choose not to purchase insurance. It's common sense also that those not covered by group policies simply cannot AFFORD (or think they cannot afford) individual ones.
As was aptly put by another poster before this response. Those "young" "healthy" people will not be more inclined to buy in but rather will "just pay the fine" and then sign up when they get sick, I can tell you first hand that this magic group does not want health insurance outside of a benefits package and will use the money to further their lifestyles such as vehicles, electronics, etc. Those people that are supposed to skew the risk pool down don't participate en masse and won't. It was always a huge frustration for me in sales.
This is far from the most unhealthy period in American history.
News reports and CDC data suggest otherwise, this is the most sedentary population in US history, more fat people means more cardiovascular and renal issues, which happen to be insanely expensive. The BMI that has been an industry standard for years is nowhere near today's reality.
The problem we have is that technology has outstripped our ability to pay for it.
This is false. The problem is technology has been overused due to tort abuse and the ensuing CYA medical practices in the name of avoiding frivolous lawsuits.
So those that HAVE get. Those that don't have CAN'T.
Insurance and medical care are commodities, no matter the emotions based on it these are realities. I can't get a new car at the moment because I "don't have" the money for it and frankly it's my responsibility to step up, the same holds for my medical and other liabilities.
The insurance model hasn't changed much in a hundred years, I'd bet.
I wouldn't put money or pride on that bet if I were you.......no offense. The models have changed drastically just over the last 30 years alone. The late senator Ted Kennedy signed legislation in the '70s creating the HMO, Medicare supplementals have been booming since the '80s, in the '90s we had HIPAA laws that drastically altered underwriting and practices, the HSA is new since I started in the business around '04, and the once fantastic indemnity coverage that used to cover people well is grossly insufficient in lieu of the major medical policies have surfaced. Then there is Medicare advantage which is newer but about to be abandoned and Medicare N supplementals that only about 2 companies currently offer. The overall point here is that models are in a constant state of flux to meet needs.
Yet our lifespans are ever increasing and technology is ever advancing. We treat fatal illnesses with the same aggressiveness that we treat cureable ones, right up until we put these unfortunate souls in the ground. Capitalism at its finest.
The healthcare system in our country is not a great example of capitalism, it's actually a very restricted market regulated to the hilt. For example I have to have about 5 signed documents to sell a simple policy and for the more complicated ones it's a nightmare. Many of the restrictions are actually repetitive and of no demonstrable value. If people want to really solve healthcare it must be streamlined, trimmed, and only those regs that have a definite value should be kept.
A link? Link me to one of these companies that provides insurance for people who are insulin-dependent; those who have had a diagnosis of cancer at any time during their lives; those with HepC; transplants. If there are any, they are prohibitively expensive, meant only for the rich.
Per4mance for one. I can't provide the link as I lost that paperwork, otherwise I would have appointed with them. That was a huge DOH on my part.
