How to reduce the cost of insurance by 50%
Wall Street Journal article on new, low-cost individual health insurance offerings. (HT to SPN Blog)
This sounded good especially, "Humana Inc. packages start at $26 a month". This is a pretty good deal, especially for someone like me who wants a high deductible plan with an HSA. And considering I am young, a non-smoker, healthy, and handsome, I should be able to get this kind of rate, right? Wrong, not only does handsome not factor into the equation, but Humana isn't available in PA, neither is Wellpoint, and Aetna's low-price plans for 19-34 year olds isn't scheduled to roll out until next year.
When I search for insurance on the "connector" (eHealthInsurance.com, not a government agency), I find the lowest price I can get on a high deductible plan is twice the Humana package - $53/month. Searching another "connector", I find a plan for $49/month.
In other words, because of state laws, I have to pay twice as much for insurance in Pennsylvania as I could get in many other state. Is there a solution? Yes - allow individuals to buy health insurance from across state lines.
1 comment:
Will never happen. The Gov and DOI believe they are in place to protect PA citizens from nasty insurance companies and permitting unregulated policies to be sold i PA would defeat this raison d'etre. You and I know that the problem you cite is because the Blues have a free-hand strangled-hold on insurance in PA. They need to be managed.
Stan Alekna
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