Time To Ask A Tough Question: Is Health Insurance Really Affordable For Individuals?

I (and many others) have been watching the online debate about President Bush’s veto of a bill designed to expand coverage of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  Yesterday, I focused on the Cato Institute's solution for the problem of expanding access: allowing families to purchase health insurance on their own – from any state.  This, they believe would make individual health insurance truly affordable for Americans. 

This is a central question that we all face as the debate about health “consumerism” continues.  Businesses are getting out the business of providing health insurance to their employees due to ever-increasing premiums.  So, families from all economic backgrounds are going to the individual insurance market and - in some cases – coming up empty.  This reality is a major barrier to the push for health consumerism.  Let’s face it, if given a choice some people don’t really want to take control of their own health decisions.  They'd rather leave things up to their physician and their employer (who picks their health plan) but they are being forced to. 

This is why the SCHIP debate has so much relevance.  Especially as the online argument about the Frost family an advocacy group affiliated with the Democratic party continues to boil.  (I won’t get into the all of the details about this issue, but you can click here for an overview.)

Jonathan Cohn, who writes for the New Republic’s blog, The Plank had this to say about the individual insurance market:

“[I]t's not just the most destitute Americans who need assistance getting health insurance. It's people who have jobs, make a decent living, and own their homes. And when medical crisis hits, they're forced to take drastic steps--like selling their homes, depleting life savings, declaring bankruptcy, or simply going without the care they and their loved ones need. Unless, of course, the government provides them with insurance at affordable rates.”

Not everyone agrees with this assessment, particularly Robert Goldberg, who writes the blog Drug Wonks:

“Americans know when their tax dollars are being wasted. Part D to help seniors and reduce hospital visits, yes. Government subsidies and government run health plans to middle income families who could get insurance on their own, no.”

Let’s talk about this issue.  Is the individual health insurance market affordable for middle income Americans?  Do well-off Americans have their priorities straight when they decide not to purchase health insurance?  Should people with pre-existing conditions be covered?  Should  people who smoke or have “lifestyle” conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure be charged the same premiums as others? 

We’re here to debate the issues, so I’d love to hear from you on how to tackle these problems.