If you’re wondering why, beyond the politics, there’s very little common ground between Democrats and Republicans on health care policy, here’s one reason. Earlier today, at the health care summit, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) complained that one of his problems with the Senate health care bill is that the government imposes standards on insurers.
“It is a richer benefit. How did it get that way? Because the federal government would mandate it under your legislation in the insurance exchanges,” Kyl said.
And as a result, there would be a higher cost. How does this happen? There is an actuarial requirement of 60% actuarial value in the exchange for the least costly plan. But the average in the country today of a high-deductible plan is 48%. The range today is 40 to 80%, and the average is between 55 and 60. So what the government is doing here is saying, we’re going to mandate that the insurance covers more things than it does right now, and therefore the cost is going to go up.
It’s true. A major aspect of the Democrats’ health care plan is forcing insurers to pay more than 48 percent of their consumers’ health care costs. If the GOP thinks its wrong to regulate insurers in a way that guarantees consumers’ costs will be adequately covered, then the differences are probably too fundamental bridge.
