We all read the headlines about the political battles over health insurance. Until we have a medical emergency, or an unpaid bill, we tend to overlook these battles. Looking beyond the political battles there are serious problems in the insurance industry and the resulting problems are now impacting everyone who has insurance. The problems are a result of the lack of federal regulation and ineffective state regulation of the industry.
Louisiana has managed to take the worst of both ineffective state regulation and nonexistent federal regulation and combine the two in a way that will make matters even worse for Louisiana residents. Here at Injured Money we have great concern for the residents of Louisiana. More significantly, if the legislation Louisiana is supporting gets adopted in other states, the people of the U.S. will have a serious problem.
Health Insurance – how bad is it?
Louisiana Senate Bill 682 allows people to buy health insurance across state lines. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal says “we are giving you more choices.” While that sounds good, reality is that governor Jindal and the Louisiana legislature are eliminating the protection of their citizens who buy health insurance. Here’s why. If people buy insurance from out-of-state organizations and don’t get the coverage they expect, who protects them? There is no federal body to protect them. Their home state insurance regulator will be ineffective in forcing an out-of-state organization to conform to their direction. The regulator from the state where the company is established has no interest in the person who is not a resident of their state.
Protecting the citizens is one of the fundamental responsibilities of insurance commissioners in every state. It is concerning to see the state of Louisiana abandoning this responsibility to its citizens.
Health Insurance – How bad will it get?
While Louisiana Senate Bill 682 is more a concept than a plan, the concept could have dire consequences for citizens of our country. If this concept expands to other states it will lead to an insurance industry that sets up shop in states with a notoriously weak regulatory environment, selling insurance across state lines. This will leave people with even worse insurance protection — a problem that is already a serious issue for the country — and even fewer options for recourse when they are wronged because there is no regulatory body to represent them.
The people of our country need to take a stand on insurance to protect yourself, your family, your friends and those less fortunate than us. To do this, follow Injured Money by subscribing to our newsletter and email this subscription form to anyone that you care about helping protect. Subscribe by following this link.
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