The White House has warned the American people that “there is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care.” Since the White House can’t keep track of all of “these rumors,” Linda Douglass, the director of communications in the White House Health Reform Office, has aske d the American people to help her target those individuals who fear that Obama intends to eliminate private health insurance and curtail health care for the elderly: “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."
The only thing that’s fishy is the White House’s protestation that the President does not intend to put America’s health insurance companies out of business. Obama is on record as being “a proponent of a single payer universal health care program.” The left wing of the Democratic Party has that and only that goal in mind when it talks about health care reform. Witness the recent remarks of Barney Franks who said the passage of any bill in this session would be the first step on a road that would inevitably lead to a single payer system. The Democrats do not view the estimated one trillion dollar price tag over the next 10 years, and the reductions in the timeliness and quality of care that would result from the implementation of Obama’s plan, as impediments to driving the socialized medicin e flagstaff into the heart of the American body politic.
If Obama’s goal was “to provide basic health insurance to everybody” then the least disruptive and most cost effective way to do that would be to adopt the approach used to insure drivers who are uninsurable. Automobile insurance is mandatory. Today, every state has an Automobile (Assigned Risk) Insurance Plan that provides coverage for high-risk drivers who cannot purchase insurance directly from an automobile insurance company. While the plans differ from state to state, the most common form of the plan is one in which drivers who cannot obtain automobile insurance apply to the state plan which then assigns them to one of the insurance companies operating in the state. The number of assignments a company receives is dependent on that company’s market share. The policy provisions and the premiums are set by the state insurance department, but the costs to administer the plan are paid for by the insurance companies.
It would be a relatively simple matter to create state health insurance plans modeled along the lines of the existing automobile insurance plans. While persons insured under automobile insurance plans tend to be high risks, those insured under a state health insurance plan would be representative of the population of the state as a whole, and as such premiums for that group would likely be no higher and might even be less than the premiums charged to persons in other group health plans in the state.
No federal agency would need to be created and no taxpayer funding would be required to establish state health insurance plans that mirror the existing automobile insurance plans. Rather than having a one size fits all plan drawn up and administered by Washington bureaucrats, policies and associated premiums would be reflective of the unique circumstances of each state. Since insurance is currently regulated at the state level, this proposal could be implemented swiftly and at little cost.
If Obama and the Democrats in Congress were only interested in providing affordable coverage to every American who desires to purchase health insurance, then establishing state health insurance plans would be all that is required, but that would not advance their plans to move the country down the path to a welfare state.
Al Kaltman is a political science professor who teaches a leadership studies course at George Washington University. He is the author of Cigars, Whiskey and Winning: Leadership Lessons from General Ulysses S. Grant.
