Rising Insurance Costs
February 9, 2008
Contrary to what some presidential candidates claim, the growing cost of health insurance is probably not mainly due to health insurance companies. The main reason is the laws passed by politicians.
A health insurance “mandate” is a legislative requirement for health plans or insurance companies. According to this requirement insurance plans should offer coverage of common health care providers, patients and benefits.
Providers covered are chiroproactors (46 states), massage therapists and naturopaths (4 states each) and podiatrist (35 states). Populations include grandchildren (4 states) and dependent students (30 states).
There were very few state mandates in the sixties but CAHI’s new document identifies 1961 nationwide mandates in 2008. There has been a steady increase in government interference and control of the health care system, as the cost of health insurance has increased.
According to people who support mandates, if a particular product or service is covered by insurance, this results in a lowering of health care costs. Some services with proper targeting prove very cost effective - these include mammograms and vaccines. However generally health insurance costs rise as a result of mandates. This is because insurers now have to pay for medical bills that were earlier paid by consumers.
Individually mandates do not have a large impact but collectively taken, the cost of coverage rises. This leads to many people going without health insurance.
