What does it take to set up a not-for-profit health insurance?

I doubt I'm the first to bring this up, but frankly I don't see a political solution in the near future.

So why not do it ourselves?

The first thing we need is a big bag of money, but that shouldn't be the hardest part.
If it is true (and I believe it is) that insurance companies crank up the cost of healthcare, then "we" should be able to offer very competitive pricing and basically put the corporate institutions out of business in no time.
We could make health insurance so affordable that just about everyone would take it voluntarily.

We won't refuse anyone. We will accept the sick, the mentally challenged, the terminally ill....hell, we'll even take Republicans.

Think about it.

from our health care system. It's not going to be easy as the greed mongers aren't going to be willing to give their control up 20% of the GDP; it will be like trying to take a meaty bone away from a pit bull.

and you`ll know why no one wants his plan. his plan insures the people not the insurance companies.

Anyone comfortable with the alternative health care plans?

I remember back in the late 1960's, when I got my first job, you barely discussed health insurance when you were hired or thought about it after you were hired. It was cheap and covered everything. I've since learned that it was because most of the insurance companies were nonprofits. What changed was greed. If we could recapture the notion of a nonprofit organization for insurance, it might work again and that might be a path to what we want in the end. Who, after all, will continue to purchase overpriced policies that only cover illnesses that start with the letter "D" on every other Tuesday of even numbered months?

Were they declared inefficient? Costly?
Did they just disappear?

would pretty much cover it.

Assuming everyone joins in, we have a pretty good estimate of what we must shell out every year.
No need for risk analysis and all that jazz. It's insurance made easy.

Is there a law that mandates health insurers to have underwriters?

From a business perspective he is not needed, since there is no risk analysis required.

If the law requires our little endeavor to employ an underwriter, then I would like to know which law this is.

just let everyone who can afford it buy into it. That's Edwards' plan. If you can't afford it, you'll get enrolled at no cost.

It sets up Medicare to compete with private insurance.

One problem you should be aware of is "adverse selection."

The only people who really want to buy any health insurance are people who are at risk of illness. This problem would be encountered regardless if the corporation that insures is for-profit or non-profit. However, if you don't refuse the sick, then everybody who is rejected by for-profit health insurance because they are too old or have "pre-existing" conditions will come to your door, driving up your medical costs.

There is a fair chance that even if you don't tack on a profit mark-up in terms of charging of premiums, your premiums may still end up being as high or higher than that offered by for-profit health care because you would be getting the sickest of the sick on your insurance rolls, since they've been rejected by everybody else.

It would only make sense from an economic point of view if the government stepped in and mandated everybody purchase health insurance in order to spread the risk out among low risk groups, such as young people and the unsick.

However, if you did set up such a hypothetical non-profit health insurance corporation preceding a government mandate requiring insurance, this non-profit entity would likely gain the biggest market share because it has the lowest costs because it does not tack on a profit mark-up.

Everyone is at risk of illness. Some more than others maybe. The reason some people refuse health insurance is not alledged immortality but the associated cost.



Not if that can be offset by bringing in the healthiest of the healthiest ;)



As often mentioned during these debates, making health insurance mandatory (like car insurance) is not a (completely) crazy idea.

...is that if people could get health coverage after they're already sick as easily and for the same cost as they could if they're in good health, there would be no incentive for healthy folks to buy it at all until they're diagnosed with an illness that they perceive will cost them more for treatment than the cost of the premiums.

And should they be cured, they'll drop the "insurance" again like a hot potato. Why should they not if they know that they can buy into it again when they get sick..........again?

So mandatory cradle to the grave insurance for everyone is a must if we are to make this work.

You can also do this with every state supporting a college for everyone fund ---

Ain't socialism grand --- !!!

....in setting-up and running a not-for-profit health insurance company, you might want to ask those who run Blue Cross-Blue Shield in Massachusetts, or New Mexico, or Illinois, or Minnesota, or Texas, or Tennessee or Oklahoma or any one of a number of other states. They're all not-for-profit health insurers.

Surprised?

I dealt with them when I was self-employed. They were slightly less expensive than other companies but wouldn't accept my wife, having sustained head injuries in the past, or my son with Down's Syndrome.

And weren't they the ones who wrote the memo on Sicko?

They don't see the world through the eyes of someone who has to decide between taking the kids to the doctor and eating. Most of our Congress can't understand that. Elect someone who's been there.

Then we'll have single-payer UHC.

Until then, we never will.

nt