Legal Commentary

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

By Big Tent Democrat

If you want to see a good pitch in favor of the health bill, Kevin Drum has one:

"Community rating" is wonkspeak for a requirement that health insurers cover everyone at the same price, regardless of preexisting conditions or health status. James Surowiecki says it makes private health insurance unnecessary [. . .] I agree, and it's one of the reasons that, warts and all, I support the current healthcare reform legislation so strongly. My take is that community rating at the national level can eventually lead to only two outcomes: (a) the end of private health insurance completely1 or (b) the transformation of private insurers into regulated public utilities.[. . .] I'd prefer the former, but the regulated utility model works OK too, and it's hard to see how you avoid one or the other in the long run.

If true, then hosanna. The problem is, as always, regulatory capture. Will the community ratings be enforced or will there be a new formula built to beat the system? As Drum says, a public option would have insured (pun intended) a good result. But we did not get that.

This is an Open Thread.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 30, 2009 (boomark / email).