WASHINGTON, D.C. — Real choice of health insurance is not part of the reform legislation moving through Democrat-led Congress, according to a provocative economics column in the New York Times.
A majority of Americans (62.9 percent as last estimated by the Economic Policy Institute) get their health insurance through their employers. So instead of being able to freely choose among insurers, consumers are limited to the plans their employers offer, the Times said.
Because of this, insurers are spared the rigors of true competition and end up with high costs and spotty service. So health insurers often act like monopolies, the Times said. Americans give lower marks to their health insurer than to their life insurer, their auto insurer, their bank and the U.S. Postal Service, according to the American Customer Service Index.
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President Obama regularly vilifies health insurers. You would think, then, that health reform would offer people more choice of insurer, the Times said. But real choice is not part of the bills wending their ways through Congress. Even the much-debated government-run insurance plan would not increase choice because it would not be available to people who already have coverage, the Times said.
The reality is, special interests like insurers, hospitals and labor unions want to maintain the status quo — they don’t want consumers to have more choice, according to the Times. Meanwhile consumers, who would stand to benefit from more choice, are not agitating for change because the costs of the health insurance system are hidden from them, the Times said.
A typical household spends $15,000 a year on health care, the Times said. Most of that comes in the form of taxes or employer deductions from paychecks, which means insurance can look as if it’s practically free, according to the Times.
As a result, most Americans are more anxious about losing their health insurance than they are getting more choice of insurer.
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