What if insurance companies decide to drop individual policies for adults too?

[dkf]

Can they do that? Maybe they only want to insure larger employer pools.

[tridim]

1. Everyone is missing the point.

They CAN'T do that and survive. Period.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Wouldn't it be great if they died a natural death and single payer became the only option..

[hobbit709]

4. won't stop them from using that as a threat to get higher rates.

That's the stunt they pulled with homeowner's insurance a few years back.

[dkf]

7. Depends on if they see people paying fines on the mandate until they are sick

And then jump in with a preexisting condition.

What provisions are there to keep expenses down for individual policies? Does the Cadillac tax kick in too?

[tridim]

9. Competition.

Another aspect that is being roundly ignored.

[dkf]

12. So the kids only policy situation is no big deal because it will be fixed by competition?

We will see.

[eridani]

18. Bullshit. Competition in health care is like competition in fire departments

It drives costs way, way UP, not down. You think that if a town has one cardiac specialty unit and someone decides to open another one that people are just going to start having twice as many heart attacks so that the new one can cover its capital expenses?

My former company just reduced its per capita insurance costs by quite a bit when it totally eliminated all insurance plans but one (including the only one with my doctor on it). By doing so, they forced everyone into a larger, and therefore cheaper, risk pool.

Now, Vanna, tell our contestant what s/he has won if s/he guesses the answer to the grand prize question "What would be the biggest and cheapest risk pool of all?"

[BrklynLiberal]

2. I think they will try...but will they be able to? I hope not.

[gratuitous]

5. Gosh, if only there was some way to cut insurance companies out of health care delivery

But I have been reliably informed that that is impossible, and that unless I want to submit to a drug test, I should just quit thinking about such things.

[Lyric]

6. If they do something that dumb, we'll get single-payer even faster.

:hi:

[WhiteTara]

8. gosh, I guess that would push the Public Option

back into the arena for the next political round. Maybe with a super majority in the senate, we can get some stuff done...like the PO.

[dkf]

10. What happens if we aren't in control anymore?

[BzaDem]

11. Then either Republicans will fix the problem or we will BE in control shortly.

In most elections, most incumbents get re-elected. So change in the makeup of Congress is slow.

But if a party presides over the collapse of an entire industry that everyone relies on and does nothing about it, that party will not be presiding over anything for long.

[SoCalDem]

13. were we ever?

If you work for Company A and change jobs, you don't get to keep Company A's insurance plan...you have to accept whatever the new company offers or plan to pay through the nose on your own coverage.

Insurance for something that definitely will happen or is imminent, is always more expensive..

Health care at the whim of an employer who may lay you off at any moment...is a very bad idea with a cherry on top.

The only "fair" way to do it, is to mandate that it be non-profit and tax-based, with EVERYONE in the same risk pool.

[WhiteTara]

14. bite your tongue and go

register people to vote. We CAN NOT lose this election!

Okay, obviously I mean metaphorically; not actually bite your tongue. And this is in the spirit of "jest" because really, we can't lose this election. This is more important than the last and we have a good shot at keeping control.

[karynnj]

15. They won't because as long as over all they are profitable

I suspect this action was political and will not be surprised if they are quietly back in the business in 3 or 4 months.

Long term, the exchanges create aggregates of people and people get what are in essence group plans.

[customerserviceguy]

16. They'll surely do it

The only way to get healthy adults into your pool of insureds is to deal with people who are in the workforce. Sure, they'll get a few disabled spouses and children in there, but they'll have a group of adults with fewer pressing medical expenses than the unemployed, or even the self-employed.

The undesirables will eventually drift over to the exchanges, and will make them uncompetitive.

[dkf]

17. That sounds plausible.

[customerserviceguy]

22. It's why single payer is the only rational solution

Everything else is just bandaid. And the HCR that was passed this year is one of those little round spot bandaids.

[mysuzuki2]

19. All that this kind of nonsense will accomplish is to

create a demand for government run single payer. If insurance companies keep this up they'll just run themselves out of business.

[dkf]

20. There already was demand for the public option and it didn't matter.

[eridani]

21. Let's hope n/t

[DailyGrind51]

23. Then there is no excuse for not having a public option to cover individuals!

[TexasObserver]

24. The law should not give them the option of refusing to insure kids.

They enjoy a privilege, and that privilege is getting paid to write insurance.