OK - When Repugs Are Asked About Affordable Health Insurance I Hear Many Of Them......

[global1]

answering - that people should be able to buy health insurance across state lines. No one ever challenges them as to why being able to buy across state lines makes things affordable - but it sure seems to stop the person that asked the question in his/her tracks.

Why is being able to buy across state lines beneficial - or is it just a meaningless talking point?

[The empressof all]

1. They'll tell you it opens up the "free Market"

Considering that they are all in cahoots with each other (IMO) there is really no way to assure that price fixing wouldn't continue anyway if the markets were opened up this way. It's a Red Herring...

[pnwmom]

2. Democrats often say we need a public option so that there is real competition --

and that in too many cases the insurance market in a state is dominated by one or two companies.

Being able to buy across state lines, in the viewpoint of these people, will provide the needed competition.

[Hello_Kitty]

5. While it's not good for there to be a lack of competition in a state

States still have a compelling interest in regulating private health insurers within their borders because when those insurers aren't providing adequate coverage it puts a strain on the state's Medicaid and health systems.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. Neither meaningless nor beneficial

What they want to do is make it so insurance cos. can incorporate in the states with the most lenient laws and sell people policies that don't provide the coverage that is mandated in states with strict laws. The policies will be "cheap" because they don't cover shit.

[crazylikafox]

8. Bingo. Exactly right.

It will be just like the banks when they allowed them to cross state lines. They all went to Delaware, where the regulations were the lowest, and look what happened to the credit card industry. I even heard an insur. company talking head on teevee today saying that's how they could lower rates. "Go to states that don't make them cover all that stuff that the expensive states require now... like mental health care & maternity care & stuff like that."

[demigoddess]

4. it is the insurance companies yelling for more business opportunities

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. It's a complete non-sequitur.

It stops conversation because it's gibberish.

My suggested response: Good idea! But let's take it a step further, how about buying insurance across national lines? Maybe Canadian medicare should be available here.

[PA Democrat]

7. Yes, allowing banks to offer their credit cards across state lines

sure have brought down credit card rates!

My doctor already has as many people processing claims for the current limited number of different insurance companies as they do doctors and nurses providing actual care. Every company has its own set of rules, lists of in-network specialists, reimbursement rates and drug formularies. I'm sure making them deal with a few hundred more penny-pinching, thieving crooks (AKA insurance companies) each with their own set of hoops through which health care providers must jump will help!

And what could possibly go wrong as companies will move their headquarters to states with the most lax laws and insurer-friendly regulators?