Saturday, July 28, 2012

Candidate Melcher's Cure-All


Jeff Melcher, Republican candidate for the Kansas State Senate 10th District, claims in campaign literature that he is committed to health care reform “the Kansas way”. He has a three-pronged plan to “fix health care”. Here it is:

1.     Ailment: Individual Health Insurance Costs. Presumably, the ailment is that costs are too high. The solution fails to mention family coverage. Melcher’s Cure is to allow Kansans to buy health insurance across state lines which he claims would create a larger choice of vendors and available coverage. The broadened offerings would create “vigorous competition for … health insurance dollars” bringing premium costs down.
Response: The only health insurance vendors which I can imagine being added to the pool of available policies by Melcher’s proposal would be those not presently offering health insurance in Kansas. Do such insurers actually exist? And, if they do, why do they not compete now for Kansans business? What kinds of coverage options would out-of-state companies provide that presently are not available in Kansas? Is it because the policies they offer do not qualify according to the review standards of the Kansas State Insurance Commissioner? Is it good public policy to permit the sale of health insurance policies in Kansas by companies that are not regulated by the state and might be fiscally unsound. A low-cost, non-regulated out-of state policy will be a risky proposition, if it doesn’t fully pay legitimate claims or cancels coverage without recourse. A low-cost policy regulated by another state that does not have standards that protect consumers as well as Kansas will not be competing on a level playing field with Kansas insurers. What would keep companies that now sell insurance in Kansas to forgo the Kansas regulatory process and sell to Kansans from across the state line? Commissions collected by insurance salespersons in other states will be income lost to Kansas agents. Is it true that competition drives insurance premium costs? I think not- utilization of health care services, health care costs and negotiated reimbursement rates, and insurance company operating cost efficiency  have a larger impact on health insurance premiums. Like many proposed solutions, the cure for this “ailment” may sound good to someone who is not knowledgeable about health insurance, but it is dangerous for consumers, unnecessary given the regulatory structure of the health insurance industry and impractical considering the extra costs of bureaucracy that would be created . Buying insurance “across state lines” would be practical only if the federal government were to replace the state governments as the regulators of health insurance policies. Frankly, I’m surprised that this idea of going out-of-state for health insurance has not been dismissed by insurance experts as a crackpot idea. Am I missing something?

2.     Ailment: Small Employers Can’t Afford Employee Health Insurance Coverage. Melcher’s Cure is “to allow small business to band together to leverage a greater risk pool when shopping for insurance, making available access to association health plans for small employers.”
Response: I know of no Kansas laws prohibiting employers large or small from pooling health insurance risks. This sounds like a solution looking for a problem that is thrown into the mix to increase the number of proposed ideas for solutions. As to the affordability of health insurance coverage, that is a problem for each employer to address independently. There are basically two ways to control the employer’s cost: increase the employee’s share of the cost and reduce medical, hospital, drug, dental or optical or other coverages.

3.   Ailment: ObamaCare Spikes Health Care Costs. Melcher’s Cure alleges that ObamaCare increases costs, limits choice, and hurts the economy. Melcher claims, “It must be repealed.”
Response:  These are classic complaints by conservatives. Unfortunately, the facts don’t support their contentions. The Affordable Care Act actually lowers costs. Choice of healthcare provider, quality of healthcare, and available medical services are unaffected. The economy will be strengthened by lowering health insurance costs and by prevention of ailments that decrease the health and thus the productivity of Americans. Unfortunately his ailment is phony therefore the "cure" is non-sensical.

I wouldn’t call Melcher’s cures for what doesn’t ail us the Kansas Way. Surely, a Kansas voter is too smart to buy Melcher’s health care fix that supposedly will “keep the bureaucrats from getting between you and your doctor.” By the way, where and when does that happen? Surely there is no third party in the room at any of the doctors with whom I have appointments. I will rely on my doctors to keep bureaucrats out of the examining, operating or recovery rooms and not some politician who attempts to regulate my medical treatment by falsely attacking the Affordable Health Act. Melcher's 'Cures" are nothing but snake oil remedies.