New York Offers Costly Lessons on Insurance

New Yort Times ^ | 4/17/2010 | By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

[goods]

New York’s insurance system has been a working laboratory for the core provision of the new federal health care law — insurance even for those who are already sick and facing huge medical bills — and an expensive lesson in unplanned consequences. Premiums for individual and small group policies have risen so high that state officials and patients’ advocates say that New York’s extensive insurance safety net for people like Ms. Welles is falling apart.

At the same time, New York has the highest average annual premiums for individual policies:

[goods]

Where was this story when HCR was debated???? why now???

[Kozak]

Because now the push is going to be for a full on single payer system when the current monstrosity crashes and burns.

[rabscuttle385]

Without healthier people to spread the risk, their premiums skyrocketed, a phenomenon known in the trade as the “adverse selection death spiral.”

What New York did wasn't a voluntary spreading of the risk, as what is expected to occur in an ordinary free market insurance scenario, but an involuntary redistribution of wealth, i.e., full-on Socialism.

New York also became one of the few states that require insurers within each region of the state to charge the same rates for the same benefits, regardless of whether people are old or young, male or female, smokers or nonsmokers, high risk or low risk.

...thereby removing any incentives to remain healthy!

“You have a mandate that’s accessible in theory, but not in practice, because it’s too expensive,” said Mark P. Scherzer, a consumer lawyer and counsel to New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage, an advocacy group. “What you get left clinging to the life raft is the population that tends to have pretty high health needs.”

Mr. Scherzer clearly never studied basic economics or accounting.

[JohnLongIsland]

It's similar to everything else in my home state, the socialist run state perpetuates the highest prices in the country whether it's taxes, real estate, insurance, gas and oil, food, etc. etc.Bottom line, everyone will be forced to buy health insurance that they cannot afford., so they will raise every ones taxes until you qualify for “free” medical insurance.
As far as actual health care, St. Vincent's Hospital (established 1849) in liberal Greenwich Village is shutting its doors because of 700 million dollars in debt.

[fightinJAG]

Has anyone, anywhere ever been able to find ONE example of where any type of Obamacare actually worked?

[Palladin]

NO!

[OldArmy52]

Sounds like the mandated Calif earthquake insurance (mandated to be offered...fortunately not mandated to take).

Lousy coverage but with sky high rates. I read the rates and coverage doc and think....they GOT to be kidding, right?

Obama Cr*pcare (take it or we take you to jail) going to be yet worse.

[SunkenCiv]

Premiums for individual and small group policies have risen so high that state officials and patients' advocates say that New York's extensive insurance safety net for people like Ms. Welles is falling apart.

The point is, the rich leftist elite "meritocracy" (they were born and inherited fortures, or married into money like Ter-ray-zah) wants everyone out of the quality healthcare channel and just die already -- and Obamacare was born.