The Wall St Journal reports on "
Health care's moving costs,"
Early last year, Shelley MacMahon, 53 years old, and her husband, Tom, 61, moved to New Mexico from New York. The attraction: year-round sunshine and being closer to family. But what started out as an adventure soon turned into a nightmare as Mr. MacMahon, who has high blood pressure and high cholesterol, struggled to find health insurance. "We had no idea how hard it would be to find coverage," Ms. MacMahon says.
In New Mexico, insurers can charge consumers based on their expected costs. New York has different regulations
... in New York, insurers are required to charge all consumers the same or very similar premiums without regard to such factors as age, gender or health status. In New Mexico, insurers can factor these differences into their premiums, make permanent exclusions for pre-existing conditions or deny coverage outright.
Can you make a prediction about which kind of consumers are likely to move to NY?
I had no idea that states (like New Mexico) are now charging people premiums based upon their expected healthcare costs. This is refreshing to see. It would be nice if other state governments adopted this policy.
ReplyDeleteAny system that doesn't require people to take accountability for their behaviors and/or level of risk is flawed, and healthcare is no different. For example, if everyone in the United States received the same insurance premium for their vehicles, we would have people everywhere driving recklessly, getting DUIs and taking no accountability for their driving actions. Luckily if you engage in these risky behaviors, you have to pay the price and/or you may not be able to even get coverage. It would be nice if healthcare premiums were the same.
There are of course instances of catastrophic disease that people have no control over and children born into poverty, and these factors must be considered when looking at the healthcare system. But people that have self induced healthcare problems should have to pay the price, and people that make healthy lifestyle choices should be incentivized.