I am trying to find out what the legislation is (preferably with a bill number i could look up) that limited the health-insurance agency so that we only get a small handful of plans from an even smaller handful of providers and leaving them the effective monopoly-style market we currently have.
Wow, quick answers! Never used Y!A before.
Anyway, I’m from NY. I’m primarily asking as someplace to start understanding the current state of health insurance, and the public debate over options.
I’m curious where the limit comes from that prevents companies from selling different plans in different states. That is a state thing, not federal?
I understand economies of scale and all… reduced costs with increased production, minimizing overhead.
But it seems to me a large part of our current problem is that we have really no options, due to limited sales (whoever’s doing the limiting). Since we have no real ability to shop around right now, there is no incentive for companies to try to meet customer needs and desires, and so we just get stuck with whatever craptastic plans they want to offer us.
I’m just trying to start to put together a better understanding of the current relevant legislation and the situation.
Tags: Customer Needs, Desires, Health Insurance Agency, Monopoly, State Insurance
Great question! I wonder what it meant?
What state are you from? Insurance is regulated by the states.
Response to Additional Details: Insurance is state-regulated. That is why available plans vary from state to state.
Your question goes not so much to the legislation as it does the regulation authorized by the legislation. Whenever states try to rein in insurance company profits, some insurers bail. Corporate greed is the real bad guy here, but insurance companies sow lots of bad information. Insurance companies are pretty close to pure evil. Even their own executives are starting to be ashamed.
Here is a link to the office of the NY Insurance Commissioner: . You can find the statutes and regs and tons of other stuff from here.
I don’t believe that there is a law that limits the number of health care plans or providers. In my opinion, there are many health care insurance providers. If there is any limit on the number of providers, its basic economics. There are economies of scale…meaning there are advantages to the insurance companies to be big, so that they can spread the risk.
Medicare and Medicaid are two government programs that you may want to research. But they only cover older Americans and a limited number of other Americans.