http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=827caf11-ce71-4dca-8b2b-4a70b3342e37
Try reading the article without your head exploding. I wish the government weren’t exempt from antitrust legislation.
Can any good come of this?
This how you brainwash the public. By letting the “educated” and “politically informed” be under the illusion that they are actually educating themselves by putting different clues and pieces together that they pick up from being concerned and “informed”.
It’s like this: The bill implies that health insurance companies are not competitive. No disagreement there. It also points to a fact that they are exempt from antitrust legislation. Conclusion: health insurance companies are not completive because of the exemption. How can anybody possibly deny this obvious no brainier? It’s like adding 2 numbers together; 1+1=2. Who would be crazy enough to object?
I know that health insurance companies aren’t allowed to discriminate based on preexisting conditions, but prior to that legislation, could they have offered a plan only to, say, healthy young people? Or, a plan only for high-risk individuals? Were they allowed to customize their plans?
Very little. There are currently already thousands of Federal and State regulations on the books. For example, the denial to cover “preexisting condition” was already banned in some States, and was highly restricted by Federal regulations.
Every state has a certain regulated coverage too. All plans in some states must cover mammograms 100% as one example. During the NJ governor election campaign. Corzine attacked Christie by saying he plans to deny mammogram coverage to woman. In reality, he is just removing the regulation that it must be covered on every plan.
A pdf that goes into mandates and how it affects each state.
I have catastrophic insurance and my plan covers birth control, C-sections, and smoking cessation. State law.