[Alberta's Child]

The only way to lower premiums and deductibles is to reduce the terms of coverage. In other words, insurance carriers must have the ability to do at least one (preferably both) of the following:

1. Cap or reduce coverage for pre-existing conditions.

2. Impose annual and/or lifetime limits on claims.

I'm surprised #2 hasn't gotten more traction in Congress. This seems like a no-brainer, since the lack of any limits on claims defeats the whole purpose of insurance coverage. If the insurance company has no limit on its financial exposure, is it any surprise that their insurance coverage is going to be prohibitively expensive -- to the point where they don't even want to sell the coverage at all?

[itsahoot]

2. Impose annual and/or lifetime limits on claims.

Except for politicians of course. Maybe movie stars and football players. The rest report to recycle center.

[9YearLurker]

The answer is to get the feds out of insurance regulation completely. Not their portfolio. We’ll never get around their subsidizing the poor, but the more they are out of the rest of the market the better.

That means interstate competition. That means no special tax break for employer-provided insurance. That means no federal mandates about how insurers craft their policies. That may mean states putting together pools for high-risk cases.