As is my habit I just finished reading the morning paper and as has become a new habit I read an editorial once again blaming health care woes on insurance company abuses and discriminatory practices. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt there are some overzealous claim folks who wrongly deny claims or who stretch the underwriting rules to deny coverage. There are dumb people who play games in every business (even government). On one hand we may have wrongly placed incentives and on the other it’s called PACs.
However, the constant barrage of criticism of insurance companies is no more than a ploy to rile the population.
Insurance companies don’t cause health care costs to rise. If anything they may be too agressive at times trying to control those costs.
Our politicians and their supporters miss a vital point. It’s health INSURANCE. Just like homeowners and auto INSURANCE. If you kill all the rules of underwriting as may be necessary, you better have alternatives to manage the increased costs that are inevitable. Why do our politicians think Medicare imposes a premium penalty on those who delay enrollment in that coverage?
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