3 ms·

Many people forget the history of health insurance in America. Prior to 2010, you could be a good and loyal customer, always paying your premiums, but if you ha

Many people forget the history of health insurance in America. Prior to 2010, you could be a good and loyal customer, always paying your premiums, but if you had a heart attack or got cancer, your health insurance company would refuse to renew your policy - for any amount. Then, once your policy lapsed, they would agree to issue you a new policy that excluded from coverage the very condition you developed that caused them to refuse to renew. Laws were passed (in the 1990s I believe) to appease the public that banned the insurers from refusing to renew a policy just because the policy holder got sick. However, the law was a joke because it permitted the insurer to set the premium on the renewal at any price they wanted. So, it was effectively the exact same situation. You have insurance. You have a heart attack or get cancer, and when it comes time to renew your policy, the health insurance company raised the premium so high that nobody could possibly afford to renew. The policy would then lapse and the insurer would immediately offer the insured a brand new policy that excepted from coverage the medical condition in question. It wasn't until the Affordable Care Act in 2010 that health insurers were finally required to keep offering the insured coverage after they got sick. They can no longer raise your rate just because you get sick (after all, what good is health coverage if it doesn't cover you when you get sick?). But health insurers HATE the Affordable Care Act and are paying lots and lots of money to elected officials to change the Affordable Care Act so insurers can once again refuse to renew policies if the insured gets sick with an expensive illness. So, hold onto your hats everyone.

nradov 2y ago
Nonsense. Health insurers LOVE the Affordable Care Act. Major parts of that legislation were basically written by industry lobbyists. It essentially mandated that everyone get coverage, which greatly expanded their customer base and revenue stream. Now that most employers have self-funded health plans the insurers no longer sell much insurance (in the sense of bearing financial risk) and mainly just provide administrative services while passing the bills on to employers. This is guaranteed stable profit. Zero large health insurers are lobbying to repeal the ACA. Why would they kill the golden goose?
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  > It essentially mandated that everyone get coverage Given that for the four tax years for which there was an actual penalty associated with that provision, the average penalty paid ranged from less than half (2014) to less than double (2017) the average monthly cost of individual health insurance, it essentially did nothing of the sort, even for the brief period where it might superficially have seemed to if you didn’t examine the details much. > Now that most employers have self-funded health plans Most employers (either by count of employers, or by count of employees) do not have self-funded health plans. Most large (>500 employees) tend to have at least one self-funded health plan, but smaller employers generally don’t, and large employers employ only about 1/4 of the workforce.

nradov 2y ago

Nonsense. Health insurers LOVE the Affordable Care Act. Major parts of that legislation were basically written by industry lobbyists. It essentially mandated that everyone get coverage, which greatly expanded their customer base and revenue stream. Now that most employers have self-funded health plans the insurers no longer sell much insurance (in the sense of bearing financial risk) and mainly just provide administrative services while passing the bills on to employers. This is guaranteed stable profit. Zero large health insurers are lobbying to repeal the ACA. Why would they kill the golden goose?

dragonwriter 2y ago
> It essentially mandated that everyone get coverage Given that for the four tax years for which there was an actual penalty associated with that provision, the average penalty paid ranged from less than half (2014) to less than double (2017) the average monthly cost of individual health insurance, it essentially did nothing of the sort, even for the brief period where it might superficially have seemed to if you didn’t examine the details much. > Now that most employers have self-funded health plans Most employers (either by count of employers, or by count of employees) do not have self-funded health plans. Most large (>500 employees) tend to have at least one self-funded health plan, but smaller employers generally don’t, and large employers employ only about 1/4 of the workforce.