I just read a fascinating article about the creation of perverse incentives that can occur when setting up a health insurance system that doesn't distinguish between medical conditions. The author made the case that without allowing health insurance carriers to price according to the health of the individual then there would be unintended consequences.
These consequences would be that healthy people would subsidize the unhealthy and thus be more inclined to purchase less coverage, i.e, higher deductible plans to make the premiums affordable. The unhealthy who had current medical conditions would then be inclined to purchase better coverage to offset medical procedures and minimize out of pocket expenses.
I guess we could call this the law of unintended consequences. No matter how you feel on the future of mandated purchasing of health insurance coverage it should be absolutely clear that someone will be offsetting the lower premiums for the higher risk segment of the population.
Going forward the health insurance system will need to truly reformed to create proper incentives and to deal with utilization and the health of both individuals and families in America. Additional variables will include proper incentives for physicians and hospitals when treating the sick.
Please don't hesitate to send us your thoughts on the state of health care reform or any health related topic. We enjoy different thoughts on either side of the spectrum or right in the middle. Please feel free to click on one of the above links for additional information on health insurance.
