Health care reform - Part II

Hi

Just a reminder that yesterday I wrote about one step which should be taken in order to "fix" health care. This blog will address reform two. Creating an environment of competition is a good way to lower costs of existing health care policies. In order to create the environment of competition we must pass some effective legislation to clear obstacles.

Currently health care insurers must comply with state regulations. These regulations vary from state to state. I am not a big believer in federal intervention but in this instance a "LIMITED" intervention is needed. Because federal law supersedes state law the federal government should enact legislation that would allow health care insurers to write policies in all states. The effect of this would be that the doors of competition would be open. Insurers could cross state lines to write their insurance policies. The people would be given less costly insurance because of the element of competition. However there is one potential pitfall, government take over of the insurance. To protect against this the legislation should be drafted so that the federal government has only a say in setting up private insurers and will never have any regulatory powers. The insurer would have to comply with the laws of the state in which the insurance company writes the policy.

As a side effect there would be less wiggle room for an insurer to claim a "preexisting" condition. When a person moves he can carry his insurance with him. It would alleviate the problem with paper work. I don't see any down side for this.

There is some resistance to this idea. It comes from lobby groups like AARP, Trial Lawyers associations and similarly situated groups who would see their gravy train disappear. What a shame. The American public benefits. Still more to come.

Continue to pray for the protection of our brave service people.
GOD Bless