Here is a possible way to take care of the problem of pre-existing conditions outside of the “Assigned Risk Insurance Pools” (ARIP) of the individual states:
There should be a declaration of an “open season” for applying. During this “open season” everyone gets insurance as a part of the whole pool with the same rates as the whole pool. There would be a 3 or 4 or 6 month sign-on period, say from January to April or January to June. Or there could be sign-on period dating from one’s birth-date, which might make more sense. If they signed up during their “open-season” they would have the same rate for any deductible as any other person in their group.
There might need to be certain“defined” categories for plans so that people could decide according to their individual needs, and these ought to be standardized without regard to state lines. The way of handling state mandates so as to preserve that aspect of state sovereignty would be that any policy that deviated from the mandate in any state in which the insurance was applied for would have to show which mandates were not included or covered. Some other conditions might need to be made or required to show proof of responsibility like a bond paid to the ARIP if the insurance company was newly beginning to operate in.
Anyone applying within the prescribe sign-on period would get the pre-determined rate for their age group. Age groups might be in periods of 5-year increments (18-23; 24-29; 30-35; etc.)
If they failed to sign-up during their sign-on period they would have to wait one year, and then they would pay a 10% (or 15% or 20%) charge for that failure to do so, which would be paid to the insurance company whose policy they purchased late. that’s because they would be adding to that company’s increase in risk.
Every additional year they put off purchasing insurance there should be some additional charge, so that it would be in their best interest to sign-on as early as possible.
If they put off purchase until the price had doubled they could only purchase health insurance through their state’s ARIP. In states in which ARIPs are not existent, they would have to do so. I don’t know what free market mechanism could be used to do that, but one (rather weak one) would be that the health costs in those states would exceed their neighboring states, and the politicians would come under fire for their lack of taking care of business and suffer the political consequences.
Here are some others to consider along with a lot of the other ideas already posted here to get everyone into the system and away from the faulty employee/employer structure which dominates presently:
A good way is a Tax Credit – which means a 100% direct refundable VOUCHER - to people below some certain minimal level of income based on nothing more than the filing of their 1040 form. A 1040 form could be submitted even if that party had no income at all. This mechanism would have value beyond “insurance”
per se because it would seduce people who work under the table and report no income to re-evaluate that
modus operandi and get into the system and pay their fair share. When their income went higher, the cost of the credit would be re-captured to the US Treasury.
Quoting from my earlier post
There seems to be a failure by both parents and the school system to teach high school students before they graduate to do some basic things to look out for themselves.
A young single man in my own state of Indiana can get a reasonable deductible health policy for $52 per month. Perhaps there should be some transition period during which a young person coming of age would have their policy separated from the family's policy, and an additional premium statement sent to the young adult in c/o the family so that a rational judgment could be made. They could then face the decision to take it up by paying the premium when it arrives, search out other more competitively priced insurance while doing so, or ignore the premium statements thereby allowing it to lapse thereby producing a cancellation. Even then follow up notices could be sent so that they could reconsider their decision for a three month grace period.
Better that insurance purchasers buy whole family policies with the children covered under their umbrella than having policies for each person, two adult parents and children individually. The cost of administration is lower, and simpler to the individuals involved. It could be a family policy with a mother and children, father and children, husband and wife, or husband wife and children. They all need to be able to inform the market by making purchasing decisions. and this way we can stay away from a single payor system which is devoid of competitive free market feedback to the marketplace.
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