Re: Clinton Health Plan May Tap Pay
On the other hand, the most effective way to run any kind of group insurance is to have as many low-risk participants as possible. If everyone is high-risk, the insurance won't work. The idea of insurance is that a group of people contribute money to a pot and hopefully never have to use it. For a small amount of money each month, the insured person has access to the larger amount of money in case of the specified problem. If you never have to use your insurance, that's a good thing in that case. It means you've avoided that problem.
But when the relative price of insurance gets beyone a certain point, it becomes less appealing. Such as health insurance premiums that run $600 & $800 + per month! The thought with mandated insurance is that insurance companies will have to fight for the healthy customers & that may lead them to bring down costs to lure customers to their plan - as well as expanding the insurance company's pool of customers which should also help with costs. However, how to keep insurance companies from dumping expensive patients might be a bigger issue.
And then there's perception that one's money is "wasted" on insurance if no service was used during a particular period. Lowering insurance costs is key. But so is reminding the general public that insurance is about protecting against "what if" and not about getting a tangible product or service for the cost of the premium. To remind us all that paying for certain kinds of insurance is just that - insurance - and that one needn't consider it a waste if you never make a claim on it.
Unfortunately, insurance is often misunderstood (& misrepresented) as a way to buy services or products at a great discount. I've met a number of people who buy (and sell!) cell phone "insurance" with the intention of "losing" their phone just before the policy expires. Not a very good business plan if cell phones really are that expensive. But since cell phone prices are so inflated to begin with and many people probably lose their policy or forget when it expires, that "insurance" must be profitable enough to sell.
Also unfortunately, insurance companies can be brutal in their review of claims and have misleading, hard to understand policies that can leave people out in the cold even when they thought they were covered.
I wish is it were easier to come up with a good plan!!
Nursing News