Justifying Health Insurance stat : regblog

Justifying Health InsuranceRecent discussions about revising or replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) raise philosophical questions about the rationale for having a health insurance system. As lawmakers continue to debate the path forward for health policy, it is helpful to review the economic and moral justifications for health insurance. Consider two extremes, what I will call "market insurance" and "social insurance." At one extreme, market insurance provides a fixed level of coverage at a price determined by each individual's level of risk. It would be difficult to allow people to choose which part of health insurance to opt out of. Second, because the high-risk category is a minority, the operators of health insurance pools have an incentive to reduce benefits to this minority.




Known as the ACA, the law rewrote the rules for people buying their own health insurance, creating winners and losers. He has a wholesale business supplying electronics to retail stores and has been buying his own health insurance for years. The ACA sought to create one big new market for individual health insurance in each state. If Republicans take away his subsidy, "I would have to change careers and find a job that offered health insurance," he said. They also faced the law's new requirement to carry health insurance or risk fines.


Julian Gomez (R) explains Obamacare to people at a health insurance enrolment event in Commerce, California March 31, 2014. Dale Marsh has not been enamored with his health insurance since the Affordable Care Act took effect. As Republicans mull various ideas to lower premiums, health economists say each has drawbacks. "We do need to make it more affordable for young people," said Susan Murray, the Marshes' health insurance broker in Dallas. "The health insurance companies are out of control," she said.



collected by :Lucy William

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