During the past couple of months, we've been examining health care plans. Having grown tired of 30-year-olds gumming up the works in my former job, I opted for early retirement; reducing stress levels considerably and obviating the ongoing need for blood pressure medication. My health, sleep patterns, and overall happiness have undergone marked transformations for the better since opting to leave the kids to their games.
But, now we needed to purchase health care plans. Looking through them, one thing immediately stood out: want inexpensive health care options? Get government out of the office.
Every plan comes with government mandates. That raises costs.
I'm a guy. My wife is infertile. Yet all health plans mandate "well baby" programs, maternity, and other stuff we don't need. Why is it that you can buy liability insurance for your car, or opt for full coverage - yet you're required to have medical coverage for conditions that do not now, and never will, apply to you?
And it certainly isn't getting any better: Washington state is likely to become the first in the USA to mandate abortion coverage in all health care plans.
The measure, HB 2330, would do so by requiring insurers who cover maternity care, which Washington insurers are mandated to provide, to also pay for abortions. Proponents claim that abortions cost insurers less than do live births.
"Washington state has historically been in the forefront for women's reproductive rights," said Rep. Eileen Cody, D-West Seattle, who sponsored the measure. "We're just trying to maintain the status quo."
This is a prime example of governmental intrusion. If somebody wants maternity and "well baby" care as a health plan rider, let them pay for it. If someone wants abortion "services" as a health plan rider, let them pay for it. Just as the state doesn't require all homeowners to carry flood insurance, and just as the state doesn't require all drivers to carry comprehensive insurance, the state lacks any authority to insinuate its rules, regulations, and myriad bureaucrats into health insurance.
Actually, if the state got out of the way, evidence exists that costs would decline; in point of fact, universal health care coverage is likely to lead to an increase in emergency room usage:
We find that uninsured status leads to a 40 percent reduction in ED visits and a 61 percent reduction in inpatient hospital admissions.
The article is Anderson, M., Dobkin, C., and Gross, T. (2012). The effect of health insurance coverage on the use of medical services. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 4(1):1–27.
h/t: http://www.econinternational.com/blog/
