Veto of SB 861, Association Health care plans
One of the reasons for the difficulty people have finding affordable health care insurance is that small employers such as dental offices, HVAC companies, realtors and photography studios can’t offer their employees insurance plans competitive with major corporations. Using my former dental practice as an example, with a group size of only 4, one of whom was a breast cancer survivor, we could not get affordable group rates due to experience rating by individual business.
However, if all the dentists in the state, or all the dentists in the country, could purchase insurance as a group, a bad experience by a single practice would not affect rates, and we could bargain for insurance on an equal footing with WalMart or GM. Such arrangements are called ‘Association Health Care plans’ which were authorized in Virginia by a bi-partisan effort in the General Assembly in SB861.
At the urging of Congressman Bobby Scott, Northam vetoed SB861. Why?
Because the rates were 15 to 20% lower than Obamacare individual market plans while providing lower deductibles and co-pays, and the Governor feared they would compete successfully with the Obamacare individual market plans and with Medicaid. Absent a government monopoly, they cannot compete.
Government Health Care, a product so good you must be forced to buy it at the point of a gun.
I don’t know all the details of SB861 or its downside. But AARP has pushed for the veto due to the threat to older workers and premium hikes for them.
https://action.aarp.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=8347
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In case people don’t click on the link, the AARP argument for vetoing is pretty clear.
…”they are not subject to regulations regarding how much more insurers can charge older people, amounting to an “age tax.” They also can discriminate based on occupation, geography, and other social factors”
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Well duh. If you’re not a realtor, you can’t get insurance through their organization. You also can’t get WalMart’s insurance if you work for Target. So?
And association plans are subject to the same regulations as those governing major corporations plans.
All these bills do is to allow small businesses of a similar kind to join together to buy insurance, or self insure, on the same basis as large corporations.
AARP is in the business of selling individual health care policies at very high rates compared to group insurance. They are simply trying to eliminate other choices.
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The AARP sells insurance policies. They do not want any competition for their Medicare add-on policies.
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AARP’s stance has nothing to do with Medicare add-ons (supplementals). If you want your kids to pay an age tax, then so be it.
And if the bills really allow competition, as you appear to be positing, then they should follow suit of other policies that don’t allow discrimination based on age, race, geography, or occupation.
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So, if a dental association establishes an insurance plan for its members, it should be required to let architects purchase policies?
Can Wal Mart employees buy insurance fro Target?
And these plans do not allow discrimination among their members. You just have to be employed by a participating dental practice to buy he dental association plan.
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So discrimination based on age, geography (zip codes?), or race is OK in your book?
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Again, they are subject to the same rules that govern major corporation plans.
All plans are limited on how much they can increase premiums by age.
Are you saying there should be no increase based on age at all?
That is unrealistic.
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Obamacare did that. Also, no increases based on gender.
It’s not unrealistic. It’s the law.
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The law is often unrealistic.
Insurance rates should be based on actuarial risk. It is well established that women use far more routine medical services but fewer critical care services, insurance rates should reflect that.
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“So, if a dental association establishes an insurance plan for its members, it should be required to let architects purchase policies?”
A group of like individuals who organize to negotiate rates? So, a union.
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More accurately, a Co-op.
They are joining together to spread risk and purchase in bulk.
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You’re right. More like a co-op. Unions are forced by law to provide for non members too.
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@ Green
Obamacare allows older insureds to be charged up to three times as much as a younger person
https://www.aarp.org/ppi/info-2016/protecting-affordable-health-insurance-for-older-adults.html
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Medicare? We are talking about workplace insurance.
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Workers over 65 covered by association plans can buy their supplemental insurance through the group. You can’t sell basic insurance to anyone over 65,only supplements.
AARP sells those policies to individuals and does want to compete with better group rates.
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Back in the 1980s, the CEO at Kodak discovered that most of the people in Rochester were uninsured. At that time, Kodak was huge. He called the provider of their group and told them, “Either everyone in Rochester can buy at our group rates, or we will replace you in January.”
The city of Rochester group was formed. Alas, it wasn’t long before laws changed that prevent the formation of such groups.
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