Posted on 01/04/2018 3:35:39 PM PST by Kaslin
Although the Trump administration and Congress have struggled to fully repeal Obamacare, while putting a good dent in the law by repealing the individual mandate through tax reform, officials are finding new ways to lower costs and expand coverage to consumers.
On Thursday, the Department of Labor announced a new rule proposal that opens the door to allowing insurance companies to sell plans and coverage across state lines. From Insurance News Net:
In another move toward dismantling the Affordable Care Act, the Department of Labor announced a proposed rule to expand the offering of small business health plans, also known as association health plans. The proposed rule will be published Friday.
Under the proposal, small businesses and sole proprietors would have more freedom to band together to provide health insurance for employees.
The proposed rule applies only to employer-sponsored health insurance. This would allow employers to join together as a single group to purchase insurance in the large group market.
And here are the basic details from the Labor Department:
As proposed, the rule would:
Allow employers to form a Small Business Health Plan on the basis of geography or industry. A plan could serve employers in a state, city, county, or a multi-state metro area, or it could serve all the businesses in a particular industry nationwide;
Allow sole proprietors to join Small Business Health Plans, clearing a path to access health insurance for the millions of uninsured Americans who are sole proprietors or the family of sole proprietors.
The rule will be posted Friday, January 5 for public comment.
Supply and Demand. Ever heard of it? Markets shift overnight. Before it’s stated, quality and quantity works itself out in a free market. It’s cheaper to do a task correctly the first time.
A catastrophic medical plan with a 10k deductible should cost about 30$/mo for anyone under 30.
Compare that with O’care.
If you ever are caught out without insurance remember that they will accept 20% if it is cash.....sometimes even a bit less.
I guess I meant, will this affect the number of people they get? Because losing customers would hurt the health shares. And I love mine.
Possibly Southwest Airlines could partner with a Texas provider and fly in patients from all over America to a medical campus next to Dallas Love Field. Doctors could use telemedicine technology for prescription writing. Even northern Mexico could do something similar for half the cost... excluding head re-attachments.
Why on earth would I want to fly to Dallas for a physical or the flu? And if I'm in an auto accident do I insist on being flown to Texas for treatment? The idea is unworkable.
I consider this very good news.
Hopefully someone can come in and knock the legs out from under this bloated medicaid beast residing in my state.
HOORAY Alexander Acosta and the leadership team at the U.S. Dept of Labor. GRRRRRREAT news.
MAGRRRRRREATA BUMP!
Will have to be “in-state” pools under this proposal...”across state lines” won’t stand up in court w/o repealing the “McCarran-Ferguson Act”(1945). SCOTUS ruled that insurance is a contract and as such is regulated by the states.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran–Ferguson_Act
http://everything.explained.today/McCarran–Ferguson_Act/
https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://duckduckgo.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1155&context=uclr
You missed the point. These associations will not have to meet varying state requirements. The Kansas plan will be sold n CA. That is the entire point of allowing associations.
This will most likely be health care insurance not health care spending management.
Huge impact on rates. Multistate employers already have this system. They are exempt from state requirements and their plans are much cheaper than a small 12 person company. My company insures people in every state with a plan adminsterd by CIGNA. But this will be health care insurance not health care spending.
Unless it is a multistate employer. These pools attempt to do the same thing.
How dare you inject facts into such an emotional discussion ...
Yay!!!!! So I can buy decent insurance without covering addadicktomes or lopadickoffamees. And maternity care. Etc.
Woooohooooo!!!!
The flu aint where the money is. Accidents must triaged nearby but after that go to the best place you can afford. You need to read up on medical tourism. Cancer, heart procedures, organs, ortho, dental are all good bets for travel. If I had to pay for a stent I would have it done in India. By a US trained doctor in a US accrediting agency certified hospital. Where they do 1000s of them. My Dr. would be the very on I had here before he got fed up and moved there.
It’s hard to imagine but insurance does not need providers. We are discussing health care insurance not health care. Insurance companies may have providers but it is not ncessary.
Maybe PDJT is an idiot in comparison to them, which is apparently MUCH better than all the intellectuals that out-think themselves at every turn! The KISS principle in action!
They do if they want to control costs and make money.
bump
More competition is always good for the consumer.
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