[Vision2020] [corrected] Otter wants health insurance market state-run

[Kenneth Marcy]

On 12/12/2012 8:50 AM, Tom Hansen wrote:
> Tell us about it, Mr. Marcy, when you are diagnosed with cancer at 75 
> years old and browsing the health insurance "marketplace" for an 
> insurer whose premiums you can afford.

Fortunately when I will be 75 is many years in the future, by which time 
I hope that these public insurance matters will be favorably resolved, 
preferably with larger policy population groups than are available in 
the State of Idaho.  In the alternative, and preferably sooner, I hope 
to have better achieved a financial status that will allow me a lower 
level of, which is not to say a level of no, personal financial concern 
about such matters.

My point about local control presumes that at least some individuals are 
sufficiently interested in the benefits of procuring higher levels of 
policy protection, if not perfection, than might otherwise be available 
from national, less flexible, insurance regulations. Idaho has some of 
the lowest automobile insurance rates in the nation as a result of 
characteristics of Idaho citizen drivers.  It well may be that analogous 
lower health care insurance rates might be available were Idahoans able 
to apply our own standards to our own insurable characteristics.  
Alternatively, for higher rates comparable to national standards, levels 
and varieties of coverage may be able to be increased for Idaho 
insurance rate payers.

The novel idea of a degree of actuarial autonomy being a public 
political concern may seem a little strange at first, but it's really 
little different than science and technology applied to other areas of 
public policy.  In May, 2013, the fifth edition of the American 
Psychiatric Association's 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psychiatric_Association> (APA) 
/Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders> 
/will be published. Revisions of existing and new possible diagnoses 
will have effects on many people as individuals and as participants in 
various publicly-concerned organizations, e.g., public schools. Health 
care costs, both public and private, as well as other agency and private 
budgets will be affected, both directly and indirectly. More local 
control over insurance rates that interact with such processes seems a 
good idea, even if learning about and participating in policy-making 
about insurance rates is prerequisite.


Ken/
/
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