Many working on health care reform are debating whether to restructure health insurance along the same lines of the auto insurance industry. As all drivers with auto insurance know, your premium is based on your driving record. Plus there are active steps you can take to reduce your insurance premium, such as taking classes in drivers' education. People on the Hill want to add a similar elements to the health care bill.It is a benefit to the auto insurance customer that the system is designed to give good drivers control over what they pay, and there is an incentive to be a better driver. Thus, it makes a lot of sense that law makers revamping health care are looking to it as a model for a more equitable and efficient system.
The health care reform bill could soon move in this direction. But right now, people who don't smoke while doing other things to maintain their health pay the same amount for insurance as persons (at the same employer) who do nothing to stay healthy, or worse, engage in health-damaging behaviors. And of course, people who are actually sick are getting more value out of paying the same premium as someone who is healthy. What some experts are recommending is that, just like auto insurance, health care be based on your health record, and what you do to maintain your health.
Why not reward individuals who make healthier choices with lower premiums? Well, then you get back into the pre-existing conditions issue -- basically people with health problems will never be able to meet the requirements for lower insurance costs, so this approach is biased against them. Some politicians and activists are fighting this idea for that reason alone. And of course, the health insurance companies don't want to see the profits made off healthy people paying high rates reduced, so they too are battling this alternative.
But for now, this proposal that models health insurance on car insurance is on the table. I for one think it is a great idea. As a non-smoker with no medical issues, and a regular gym resident, I welcome a change that not only rewards me for hard work, but also may get some of my friends and relatives into the gym with me, if they can save some money. The money we will save as a healthier nation can subsidize those in need of greater care. The benefits of this plan far outweigh the pitfalls. It is one more smart step towards universal health care.
Read about this new wrinkle in the health care reform debate on the Wall Street Journal, and leave your thoughts below. Who knew that the auto insurance industry would be a salient example for the Obama health care plan?
Comments: (4)
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By: Randy on 10/24/2009 7:35AM
This wouuld make no sense for the people or the insurance company. HEALTHCARE should be one help the sick when they are healthy, then when they are the sick the healthy will help them.
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By: azazel on 10/24/2009 9:14AM
AS a person that is handicapped, I broke my neck walking through my kitchen. I wasn't doing anything risky it was a freak accident. What you are proposing here is ridiculous and bias. I would love the opportunity to become a productive member os society. Until I am provided healthcare despite my pre-existing condition I will never afford to seek employment. It is Social Security Disability with medicare and medicaide paying my monthly doctor visits and $5000 a month prescription costs. I would have to get a job with starting pay of $5800 monthly take home just to break even and It'll be a cold day in #### before I work 40 hrs. to get what I do sitting at home. Now provide me with healthcare and I can see working for $2000+ a month instead of the $800 Social Security payment I receive now sitting at home. give me the chance to become productive. Otherwise I and the hundreds of thousands in my shoes will benefit more from remaining on SS and welfare. I'm in a catch22. What is being proposed here is just more punishment for those with pre-existing conditions regardless of how you got that way. Remember anyone of you could be the next to trip walking through your house and break your neck, NOBODY IS INVINCIBLE!!
Time to quit complaining and do something, contact your representative and senators along with all those blue dog Democrats. Don't listen to the lies about health reform read the proposed document yourself and see how beneficial it really is then use the link and feel free to copy my letter and fax it to them all. Don't listen to the lies spread by the insurance lobbyists claiming to be grassroot organizations. READ THE PROPOSED DOCUMENT AND SEE FOE YOURSELF the insurance company lies.
http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=21903&CID=122&RID=20697161
To: YOU our public servant and the American peoples voice in Congress and on Capitol Hill!
Failing to pass a government subsidized health care plan that provides every American health care and fails to force insurance companies to accept pre-existing conditions and removes caps on healthcare provided while capping prescription drug prices is a perverse disregard of the U.S. Constitution and an assault on my rights as a citizen! I am assured the right to pursuit of happiness, which can never happen with the current insurance monopoly that exists today. I REJECT any plan that doesn't include a single payer or public option and doesn't provide me with the right to choose something other than privatized insurance companies (by including a public option). The American people want and need government subsidized insurance and that change needs to be made now!
American taxpayers are ready for you to bring about a major overhaul of the current insurance model. The outcome would lower overall medical costs for all Americans by bringing about much needed competition against privatized insurance. With over 10 percent unemployment rate, now is the time to pass a health care measure that covers the poor and unemployed at the expense of privatized insurance company profits.
Your failure to finally provide Americans with a better option than the huge failure now in place (privatized insurance monopolies) while accepting bribes hidden as campaign contributions is not only unethical but should be made illegal with a mad rush! We Americans are aware of this perversion of justice and are fed up with the flagrant extent that it takes place. A perfect example is the exorbitant contributions accepted by Baucus to lead the campaign against a public option.
Listen to the voice of middle-class Americans who are demanding you make a required and expected move toward government subsidized health care and expect nothing less than a public option. Any reform that doesn’t include a single payer or public option would simply mean a financial victory for private insurance companies at our expense and would emphasize their unethical influence on you as you would be choosing their wishes over those of the American majority.
Please know that I am carefully monitoring your actions regarding much needed health care reform that MUST INCLUDE A PUBLIC OPTION!
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By: Gibbo on 10/24/2009 3:01PM
So what are we saying, we are going to start checking people's
credit report to determine if they are a high risk our low risk subject? In
my opinion, that is how the current auto insurance rates are mainly
base.
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By: Alexis Stodghill on 10/26/2009 10:51AM
Hello,
I hear what you are saying. I don't think people want to penalize those who are ill. I think they will do everything to prevent that from happening, because that is the system we have now.
I hear your anger and understand your fears. At the same time, is there a way to reward people who do things to stay in good health? I know in the UK, doctors are rewarded for helping people quit smoking, and other things that will help keep people healthier and health care costs down in the long run. That is really the goal.
Also, as a super-healthy person who will probably never have a heart problem (god willing), it does not seem fair to me that I should have to pay rates based on the extremely insane eating and behavioral habits of many Americans. Maybe I am in a minority, and I would never want anyone who is sick to suffer, but I think I deserve to pay rates based on my healthy habits. Right now, I am basically subsidizing some sick people who chose to eat poorly and never exercise for many years, leading to heart ailment and diabetes in many casesv--which is very preventable with good habits.
If someone is in an accident or gets cancer it's another issue, but the biggest killers of heart disease and diabetes are developed from years of life choices over time.
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