What are mandates?
Health insurance mandates are created by lawmakers to ensure that insurance companies in a particular state offer coverage for specific medical conditions, providers, or groups of people.
If mandates were such a good thing, why are health insurance costs continually on the rise?
In our recent blog post, How Do Health Insurance Mandates Vary By State (Feb 1, 2008), we referenced the data collected by the Council for Affordable Health Insurance. The organization has been monitoring mandated health insurance legislation since the early 1990s. In the Wall Street Journal, Feb 8, 2008 CAHI makes numerous points about health insurance mandates:
- Mandates almost always raise the cost of health insurance.
- Mandates create small individual increments, but cumulatively increase coverage costs.
- Mandates limit choices.
The article notes that some states are finally beginning to realize that mandates, however well intended, make health insurance more expensive.
Putting a stop on health insurance mandates
In Oklahoma, a bill has just been approved to put a stop, at least for one full year, on any more mandates from being passed, with the express intention of reducing the price of health insurance. (Insurance Journal, Feb 11, 2008) The bill goes further and would require:
- A cost-benefit analysis of future mandates
- One-year waiting period before any health insurance mandate can be voted on
- Insurance mandates could only be filed during odd-numbered years
- Insurance mandates could only be voted on during even-numbered years
How many mandates does my state have?
For you, the message is, the fewer the mandates, the cheaper your health insurance policy. Choose your state from the following list Health insurance Mandates by State to find out how many of the nation's health insurance mandates are required in your state.