Why is the MN Health Plan better than an insurance mandate?
The fundamental problem that has prompted reform is the rapidly rising cost of our current insurance-based system. “Universal” care through the mandated purchase of insurance does nothing to reduce costs; rather it bloats the system with more dollars to provide coverage to everyone. Proponents of an insurance-based system with mandated purchase propose to keep insurance plans affordable by using a basic “benefits set.” The MHP would provide comprehensive coverage for all, using the administrative savings inherent in the single system. Medicare, which is somewhat comparable in that it is a single plan for seniors, has administrative costs of under 3% of revenues, compared to insurance plans which typically have administrative costs of at least 15%. Because the insurance-based system uses plans that do not have comprehensive benefits, they cannot accurately claim to cover people whose medical needs are not in the benefit set. For example if your medical needs are for dental work and your
The fundamental problem that has prompted reform is the rapidly rising cost of our current insurance-based system. “Universal” care through the mandated purchase of insurance does nothing to reduce costs, rather it bloats the system with more dollars to provide coverage to everyone. Proponents of an insurance-based system with mandated purchase propose to keep insurance plans affordable by using a basic “benefits set.” The MnHP would provide comprehensive coverage for all, using the administrative savings inherent in the single system. Medicare, which is somewhat comparable in that it is a single plan for seniors, has administrative costs of under 3% of revenues, compared to insurance plans which typically have administrative costs of at least 15%. Because the insurance-based system uses plans that do not have comprehensive benefits, they cannot accurately claim to cover people whose medical needs are not in the benefit set. For example if your medical needs are for dental work and you
Forcing people to buy insurance when they cannot afford it, is not fair and doesn’t work. And, because the mandated insurance plans often exclude dental and other types of care, it is misguided to require a person with dental problems to spend their last dollars on a plan that won’t help them. The fundamental problem that has prompted reform is the rapidly rising cost of our current insurance-based system. “Universal” care through the mandated purchase of insurance does nothing to reduce costs, rather it bloats the system with more dollars to provide coverage to everyone. Proponents of an insurance-based system with mandated purchase propose to keep insurance plans affordable by using a basic “benefits set.” The MHP would provide comprehensive coverage for all, using the administrative savings inherent in the single system. Medicare, which is somewhat comparable in that it is a single plan for seniors, has administrative costs of under 3% of revenues, compared to insurance plans which
