Apr 06 2009
Senate Bill 725 Will Allow Out of State Insurance Purchases
North Carolina State Senators Phil Berger (R-Eden), Neal Hunt (R-Raleigh), and Jerry Tillman (R-Archdale) recently introduced a bill that would allow North Carolinians to purchase out of state health insurance policies. Why is this important do you ask? Read on.
Under current law, North Carolina citizens are restricted to purchasing only from state government-approved health providers and plans, which must include 47 coverage mandates.
“Currently, North Carolina laws deny its citizens access to more affordable coverage offered in other states,” said Civitas Institute Policy Analyst Brian Balfour. “Why would lawmakers want to continue to deny struggling North Carolina families access to significant health care savings?”
North Carolina’s average annual family health insurance premium is higher than 30 states and, for instance, is:
- 61 percent more expensive than Iowa’s average rate
- 55 percent more costly than North Dakota’s average rate
Other potential impacts of SB 725 would include:
- Lowering the number of uninsured North Carolinians, as more people are able to find affordable coverage.
- Drive down the costs of in-state plans, as in-state providers are forced to compete with more affordable options.
- Save taxpayers money, as more people being able to afford private insurance means fewer seeking government coverage.
“In short, SB 725 would save health insurance customers money at no cost to taxpayers, lower the number of uninsured in North Carolina and possibly save taxpayers money to boot,” stated Balfour.
Expect opposition from legislators who are in the tank for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina who currently have a monopoly on state health insurance. Contrary to how supporters of universal government run health care like to claim that the free market has failed in health care, the problem is that there is no free market in the American health care industry and North Carolina is a good example of how it has been legislated that way.
Did you look at those numbers and see how high health insurance costs are in NC compared to other states? Insurance is 61% cheaper in Iowa. To put that in perspective, between the contribution from the company I work for and the premium I paid for my health insurance last year, it cost roughly $1200 for the year. In Iowa, the policy would be about $480. The smart thing would obviously be to buy a policy based in Iowa and that would force BCBS to devise different plans that are cheaper to now compete for that market share they would be losing. That is how the free market works, but in North Carolina, there is no free market in health insurance.
I don’t know what the general feeling is in Raleigh about whether or not this bill has a chance. By all logic, it should pass with flying colors, but who ever said government was logical?
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Hmm. The ‘average’ cost of a plan in Iowa being compared to what the cost of a plan in North Carolina would/should be? That doesn’t seem like anything but cherry-picking the extremes for emphasis. Are all things equal otherwise in your comparison – number of possible candidate plans, the number of possible health plan policy-holders, the items covered under the plan, the deductibles? Are you really making the point you are wanting to without being disingenuous?
Who is funding Balfor in support of this? Who is lobbying him for this? The one thing about politics and politicians is the selling-out of the larger group for the benefit of a few or in the interest of one person/entity.
Not every republican is serving the interests of his constituents and not every democrat is serving the interests of only himself or his lobbyists.
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Dale, what was the reason for writing the Sherman Antitrust Act?
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answer the questions i posed first. dodging questions is so ‘yesterday’.
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