Selling Insurance across state lines? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   3/4/2016 8:03 AM

   I saw Mr. Trump has released his health care plan and it calls (as most Republicans plans do) to allow insurance to be sold across state lines.
   
   Can anybody tell me if this really will work? And what happens to the States control over insurance? I seem to see each state has an insurance commissioner?
   
   I can see in theory it opens up the pool of insured which should lower costs, currently there are national insurance companies who sell auto, home and life, but when they set policy prices they do that by state or even regions of the states. When I lived in New Jersey in the northwest corner of the state (yes it really is the garden state up there), my car insurance wasn't bad, when I moved to Bergen County (next to NYC) my rates doubled or maybe even tripled, which I figured was mostly because of more cars on the road.
   
   In health insurance, aren't there the big insurance companies as well? Won't they still insure based on some regional aspects? For example many years ago, and I mean many, (at least 10?) I saw a job with the state of Kentucky that was near where my cousin lives, so for fun, I checked it out, and by that I looked into the health insurance costs. They at the time used Blue Cross and Blue Shield. It was interesting that different parts of the state had different premium costs. Eastern Kentucky premiums where higher then Western Kentucky, I concluded this (and of course I could have been way off base) that premiums were higher because of more coal mining on the eastern part of the state. So by looking at this example, and my auto insurance example above, can someone explain to me how selling insurance across state lines is suppose to make companies more competitive?
   
   I think the big issue is cost for services, my wife is going through our bills from last year and we are really amazed at what the price is for a procedure, well before insurance discount takes place, and still the cost after that is high. All I can say is thank god I had health insurance. But I think that topic of pricing is for another thread.
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
2. Clay Putnam

   

   33 posts
   
   3/4/2016 3:03 PM

   Mel,
   
   I believe opening the state borders will decrease health insurance costs by creating competition. I will give you an example that we recently experienced with our general and liability insurance, which is not bound by state boarders. We contacted multiple insurance providers and they all priced-out our G & L needs. Two companies came in very close to each other and two additional companies were substantially more expensive. The company that won our business went back to their adjusters and pushed them to lower the premiums, which they did. By a lot. In the end we purchased our identical G & L insurance at a better price than the previous year and substantially lower than had we gone with one of the other competing companies.
   
   Now I ask this. How many times has a healthcare insurance company gone back to reduce their price to win an insurance bid? The answer, for us, is never. Health insurance companies give you a price for the type of insurance you request and the cost is non-negotiable. You either take it or leave it. Period. Healthcare insurance companies have no incentive to reduce their pricing because the competition is very limited. For example, we have two healthcare options, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield or United Healthcare. They each have their niche' for their respective health insurance plans and they are both content to allow the other control their respective niche'. Thus, no competition, no incentive to reduce costs, and you pay the price they dictate.

   
   
   
   
3. Patrick Finlen

   

   4 posts
   
   3/4/2016 6:03 PM

   Mel,
   
   Car Insurance is based upon so many different factors with zip codes being just one of many. Federal law allows companies to sell car insurance across state lines. Some companies choose to only do business in certain states. The larger the pool, the lower the cost of insurance.
   
   Health insurance on the other hand is a whole different story. Health insurance used to be traditional insurance in the sense that the rate was based upon insuring an unplanned event, just like car or homeowner's insurance. You used to pay in for a full doctor's visit, insurance didn't pay for routine exams etc.
   
   Health insurance used to kick in when a non planned health event took place. Health care premiums now have nothing to do with insurance. Users want low co-pay, low cost prescriptions and so on. We pay for healthcare coverage and not health insurance. Health care is so expensive now because of the subsidies it takes to cover the cost of every procedure, doctors visit, annual checkup, prescriptions and to cover those that don't pay anything. Imagine what the cost of car or homeowners insurance would be if everyone wanted every expense related to the two to be paid for.
   
   If all subsidies were taken away, the cost of healthcare would drop dramatically. Look at a hospital bill and see what they charge for an aspirin. The cost is artificially high to cover all the costs that are given away. Challenge that cost and most hospitals will reduce the bill to the same cost they charge insurance companies. Ask your doctor what he/she would take in cash for a procedure vs. filling out all of the mandated federal/state/healthcare company paperwork. You will find the cost to be at least half of what is billed to your health care company.
   
   Mel, you are correct in thanking God you had health insurance. Because you no longer have health insurance, you have highly subsidized health care that enriches all who participate in the billing as well as the politicians who create these plans.
   
   The same thing is now happening with college tuition. Tuition has increased dramatically over the cost of inflation due to the large subsidies being given to those that don't pay. With the Federal Government taking over student loans, we will see continued large increases in college costs.
   
   Colleges know they can raise rates as students will borrow more and default more with the Federal Government (us taxpayers) covering the bill and ultimately forgiving the bill. There will be more universities offering more degrees in useless studies with more professors getting paid big money to teach useless classes. It is a cycle that is similar to health care. It enriches all who participate in the billing portion. Before long the Federal Government will be forgiving some student debt based upon a means test.
   
   And now we have a Presidential candidate that says college is a right that should be paid for in full.

   
   
   
   
4. Keith Lamb

   

   3 posts
   
   3/4/2016 6:03 PM

   https://www.saveonmedical.com/

   
   
   
   
5. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   3/6/2016 8:03 PM

   Keith Lamb said: https://www.saveonmedical.com/

   
   
   Interesting, quick question to anyone using it, does it say it will request a quote? That is what it asked me. I will say our city of Springfield has 2 main choices in providers of health care, say unlike the Kansas City area. We remember one of our friends who works for MoDOT had once choice of provider in SGF, Cox or Mercy, whichever insurance would cover. When they moved to KC, still working for MoDOT there were like 5 different providers they could choose from.
   
   It says the average cost is $700 cost saving me $421 on a abdominal CT scan. I don't know if I am reading this right. My question is, if CT scan cost so little, why would my insurance provider pay $4,000 for one? (Plus $200 for the doctor to read the scan).
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
6. Keith Lamb

   

   3 posts
   
   3/7/2016 3:03 AM

   Here is the link to the news story about it.
   
   http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-new-website-is-helping-consumer-s-slash-their-doctor-bills-636627523766

   
   
   
   
7. Steven Scott

   

   0 posts
   
   3/7/2016 8:03 AM

   People can call Trump a bigot, sexist, racist, and the list goes on, but the man is not stupid, he knows how businesses operate and he knows how to negotiate. The pundits say he is getting the vote of people fed up with the government mismanaging everything and lining their pockets and I agree. His idea on opening up insurance is the perfect example, we all know that the subsidies are controlling the cost, but someone is DC is making a buttload of money off of that ie. Cruz, Rubio, Sanders, Clintons, Bushes, Pelosi, Reed, McConnel, etc. He might not be the ideal figurehead for our nation but put him in the cabinet, in charge of something, and see what happens. (At least then he can be fired)

   
   
   
   
8. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   3/7/2016 8:03 PM

   Keith Lamb said: Here is the link to the news story about it.
   
   http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-new-website-is-helping-consumer-s-slash-their-doctor-bills-636627523766

   
   
   Thanks Keith, as I said when I tried it, it wanted to get a quote for me, unlike what their example showed in the story. So it might be because of the way providers work in our town.
   
   The other thing it didn't explain, was how or if it works with your insurance provider to have it count towards your deductible? We do have a lower deductible in the range of $600, per person, $1,500 for family. I understand the concept if the unit is not doing a procedure, staff is still being paid, and they want to maximize its use, but why would insurance companies pay a higher price for a procedure then someone walking off the street? Could they demand an open time for their patients as well?
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
9. Ronald Kirkman

   

   42 posts
   
   3/8/2016 12:03 PM

   Steven K Scott said: People can call Trump a bigot, sexist, racist, and the list goes on, but the man is not stupid, he knows how businesses operate and he knows how to negotiate. The pundits say he is getting the vote of people fed up with the government mismanaging everything and lining their pockets and I agree. His idea on opening up insurance is the perfect example, we all know that the subsidies are controlling the cost, but someone is DC is making a buttload of money off of that ie. Cruz, Rubio, Sanders, Clintons, Bushes, Pelosi, Reed, McConnel, etc. He might not be the ideal figurehead for our nation but put him in the cabinet, in charge of something, and see what happens. (At least then he can be fired)

   
   
   Mr. Scott;
   
   One interesting thing about Mr. Trump was quoted by Reverend Al Sharpton ( A Christian Cleric) from NY. He said he would move out of the country if Mr. Trump were elected President of The U.S. Maybe, with some more claiming to do the same thing we may see many politicians leaving the U.S. That is cleaning the house the easy way. Isn't it amazing the amount of money Super Pac and others are spending to knock out Donald Trump from the rapid onward movement in the Presidential Race.
   
   Capt. Kirk
   Retired Alien
   Needham Golf Club
   Needham, MA