18 health insurance mandates in Nebraska, and why mandates are not being debated as part of reform

18 health insurance mandates in Nebraska, and why mandates are not being debated as part of reform
August 14, 10:11 AM · Blake Yount - Sarpy County Conservative Examiner

Among the horrifyingly under-debated pieces of the health care puzzle are the crippling mandates imposed by the federal and state governments. Mandates are services that law makers have required insurance companies to provide, and thus required consumers to pay for, regardless of individual desire.

Aside from the fact that these mandates stab liberty with the sword of tyranny, they have also helped to drive costs through the roof. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, the twelve most popular mandates increase the cost of health coverage plans by anywhere from 15% to 30%. Dare we conclude that rescinding these mandates might help to bring down costs? http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba237

In Nebraska as of 2008, insurance companies have been mandated to cover 18 specific benefits. I shall list them now. (Not necessarily listed in order of absurdity):
1) Alcoholism 2)Birthing Centers/Midwives 3) Bone Mass Measurement 4) Breast Reconstruction 5) Cancer Medication 6) Cleft Palate 7) Colorectal Cancer Screening 8) Dental Anesthesia 9) Diabetic Supplies 10) Mammogram 11) Maternity Stay 12) Mental Health General 13) Mental Health Parity 14) Newborn Hearing Screening 15) Newborn Sickle Cell Testing 16) Off-label Drug Use 17) TMJ Disorders 18) Well Child Care. http://www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/HealthInsuranceMandates2008.pdf

The Council for Affordable Health Insurance says that each mandate typically increases the cost of health insurance coverage by anywhere from 1% to 3%. So we can conclude that the 18 mandates listed above raise costs for Nebraskans by anywhere from 10% to 20%. Remember, this is just one factor in our health care costs.

Some of these may seem to be common sense as part of general coverage. However, if I had the choice, I would not be interested in paying for a mammogram, breast reconstruction, cleft palate, maternity stay, alcoholism, and others on the list. At my young age, I could envision paying for catastrophic insurance, and that would be all. I would rather pick and choose as life goes on. Indeed, where are all the pro-choice liberals??

Which, in my mind, births another free market solution. Why can’t we sit down with an insurance provider with a list of all available benefits and their costs, then pick and choose which benefits we should like to include in our personal plan? Maybe then we would be free to sign a 3 year, 5 year, 10 year, or 20 year contract with that plan, thereby allowing us to change benefits over time, as life goes on. Of course, we would have to believe in the free market by rescinding mandates and return to the American value of personal responsibility first.

Therein lies the problem. We are so accustomed to being so far removed from our own health insurance, that we now expect to pay next to nothing out of pocket. This seems absurd considering that citizens in the United States enjoy the best medical care in the world.

No politician will tell you that it ought to be your own responsibility to pay for health care. No politician will admit that his or her mandates have priced people out of the private insurance market. No politician will say that regular check-ups, basic services, and many prescription drugs ought to be paid for by individuals. Indeed, they must retain their power, right?

If homeowner’s insurance were mandated to cover carpet replacement at the whim of the homeowner (just as regular doctor visits are covered), would we not drive the cost of carpet services through the roof through over utilization? After all, a $100 co-pay for new carpet would be much more appealing than having to pay out of pocket. Moreover, why would a house full of homeowners content with their wood floors need to pay for the carpet service mandate? But luckily, the government has not stuck their finger in carpet services, the free market has provided reasonable prices for carpet replacement and installation.

Economics 101 allows us to see why health care costs are out of control. Politics 101 allows us to see that politicians have successfully convinced a large group of people that there is nothing wrong with stealing time and money from a smaller group of people through taxation, to benefit the larger group of people.

Through mandates and certain regulations, governments distort markets and destroy affordability. Then they work tirelessly to make us believe that unsustainable system that they have destroyed was in fact destroyed by some other source. This practice pits citizen vs. citizen, citizen vs. business, citizen vs. anything that isn’t government.

It would appear as though, that enough of us are blind and slavish enough to allow these mandated atrocities to continue. After all, most would rather wear a mandated life-jacket than brave the wild waves of liberty themselves.
Copyright 2009 Examiner.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Author
Blake Yount is an Examiner from Omaha. You can see Blake's articles at: "http://www.Examiner.com/x-13430-Sarpy-County-Conservative-Examiner"