Story from the New York Post. (H/T Right Klik via Neil Simpson)
Excerpt:
The state is trying to shut down a New York City doctor’s ambitious plan to treat uninsured patients for around $1,000 a year.
Dr. John Muney offers his patients everything from mammograms to mole removal at his AMG Medical Group clinics, which operate in all five boroughs.
“I’m trying to help uninsured people here,” he said.
His patients agree to pay $79 a month for a year in return for unlimited office visits with a $10 co-pay.
[His] plan landed him in the crosshairs of the state Insurance Department, which ordered him to drop his fixed-rate plan – which it claims is equivalent to an insurance policy.
He says he can afford to charge such a small amount because he doesn’t have to process mountains of paperwork and spend hours on billing.
“If they leave me alone, I can serve thousands of patients,” he said.
Government doesn’t like it when private businesses solve problems. Government only wants solutions they can control and regulate. After all, if there is no (government-caused) health care crisis, then these commies would be out of a job. They have to cause the crisis and then market themselves as the only solution.
Right Klik also has a handy list of the problems caused by government.
* “Community Rating” laws, which limit insurers’ ability to charge different prices to different customers, raise prices by 20.3% for individual policies and 27.3% for family policies
* Mandated benefits raise the expected price of an individual policy by approximately 0.4% per mandate. For family policies the increase is approximately 0.5% per mandate. The typical state has about 20 mandates (with a range from 6 to 48) so a reduction from 20 to 10 mandates would imply a 4% decrease in price for individual policies, and a 5% decrease for family policies.
* “Any-Willing-Provider” laws, which limit insurers’ ability to exclude hospitals and doctors from their networks, raise prices by 1.5% for individual policies and 5.3% for family policies.
* Federal law places limits on the discounts employers and insurance companies can provide for healthy, cost-saving behaviors.
* Twelve million Americans go without health insurance because the Federal Government does not allow people to purchase insurance across state lines.
The way insurance works is that people need to pay premiums that take into account the likelihood that they will make claims. The people who make a lot of claims need to pay more. This is what encourages people to take fewer risks and keep costs down. When government gets involved to equalize outcomes regardless of risks, then there is no incentive to live responsibly. The result is a shortage caused by high demand for medical care, and low supply.
How about we just let the free market work instead?
WINTERY KNIGHT 