Why is NAR supporting a government takeover of health insurance?
NAR opposes a single payer insurance system and has reservations about a government option within the proposed Exchange marketplace. Similarly, NAR opposes an employer mandate. At the same time, the difficulties that NAR members have had in finding affordable health insurance illustrate the extent to which the current state-regulated system is broken. More than one in four working Realtors has no health insurance. Thus, what NAR does support are sensible federal health insurance underwriting and rating reforms. Many of the proposed bill’s changes to the current system of underwriting and rating have received little public attention, in large part because they are not flashy and are not controversial. NAR’s goal is to support reforms that would allow the self-employed and small businesses equal access to the same affordable, quality health insurance that larger firms are now able to enjoy.
