Ohio Governor Aims To Cut Premiums For Chronically Ill
Published: February 15, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio —Governor Ted Strickland wants lawmakers to limit what health insurance companies can charge to people who buy individual policies, part of the governor’s plan to provide coverage for 110,000 uninsured Ohio adults. The cap on premiums will be part of the governor’s proposed budget, which will be introduced in the General Assembly soon, Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said. The cap would be 1 ½ times the lowest rate charged to a person of similar age and gender.
People with pre-existing conditions - such as brain tumors, cerebral palsy and emphysema - pay up to $1,000 a month in premiums for individual policies, an amount that doesn’t make sense to Strickland and patient advocates, the newspaper said. The cap would reduce premiums by 50 percent to 70 percent and would provide coverage to 52,000 uninsured Ohioans. It would only apply to the individual health insurance market, not employer group plans.
The change would mean higher base rates for the 400,000 Ohio residents who buy individual policies, said Kelly McGivern, president of the Ohio Association of Health Plans. “That means people will drop their coverage, and it’s more likely the young, healthy people will get out,“ she said. The impact of the cap would be a 5.5 percent increase on individual policies, said Doug Anderson, the Ohio Department of Insurance’s chief policy officer. “This is less than 5 percent of the Ohio population that are potentially impacted by this in order to get coverage for 52,000 other people who don’t have any other options,“ he said.
People with chronic conditions would still pay more on their premiums than healthy people, even with the cap. Other states have programs that affect individual policies, with many states mandating strong rate controls on all policies, Anderson said. Strickland also would like to raise the age of those eligible for dependent coverage to 29 from 24, and he wants employers to let uninsured workers buy health insurance with pretax dollars, a move that could save 40 percent on premiums. About 90 percent of the state’s 1.3 million uninsured are younger than 65.3
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Reader Reactions
I neither live in Ohio nor do I require private health insurance, but this type of proposal is just plain scary. Since when did a private business become a “welfare agency”? Legislation requiring private industry to ignore sound actuarial priciples or reasonable costing is pure nonsense, everybody loses in the end.
That’s a great idea !! We already have a few states that do this…..NY, NJ, MA, ME, VT, WA state. Take a look at how much insurance costs in those states and you’ll see what the premium savings is !!
They all all MORE not less !!!!!
What they ought to do is to mandate that people who carry their own insurance (not employer-sponsored) are charged the same contractual rates that people who have group insurance are charged. For instance, a major insurer agrees with the provider that they will accept X amount for a procedure, whereas a person who carries his own insurance is charged 50% more. Making this kind of change would go a lot farther toward making sure everyone gets an even playing field. The cost per month for coverage isn’t as important as the cost for services when a person has a chronic illness. Lowering premiums might make it look like more people are insured, but in fact they will be insured but still unable to afford the cost of health care, the deductibles, copays, etc.
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