I can buy car insurance or pretty much any kind of insurance on the market, and there is suitable oversight. This does not exist for medical insurance.
What I mean by that is if I work for a large company, I can get access to health insurance that I cannot buy on the market myself. If that company changes insurers to a crappy one, my only choice is to change employers to one that provides access to a better insurer. If I self employ, I cannot get access to those plans.
Insurers should be forced to sell in a single market all the plans they offer. Insurer like to talk about "economy of scale" with large employers, but that is an artificial limit. Why should insurance pools be limited to who works at a company?
“Insurers should be forced to sell in a single market all the plans they offer. Insurer like to talk about "economy of scale" with large employers, but that is an artificial limit. Why should insurance pools be limited to who works at a company?”
Very true. There should be one insurance pool. Either state or nationwide.
Not really. A lot of people never were able to get insurance at all or lost it once they got sick.
There should be one pool where everybody can get insurance regardless of agr, employment status or preconditions. Insurers should compete for that pool.
That being said, I think uninsured drivers should go to jail/pay hefty fine/lose driving privileges, but many do not. Maybe one pool for car insurance as well?
That's what the ACA already fixed. Insurers are forced to sell into that single market all the plans they offer in your state that are open to individuals. If you don't like your employers plan, you can just buy insurance on the ACA marketplace and decline your employers plan. Your risk pool will be other people of the same sex and age in your state.
If your complaint is that employers have access to better insurance plans on private offer, well that's true. Walmart also has self-insured property/auto coverage not available to smaller companies. But COBRA let's you stay on your employers plan if you leave for up to a year (at a pretty high cost) so that's a thing.
What I mean by that is if I work for a large company, I can get access to health insurance that I cannot buy on the market myself. If that company changes insurers to a crappy one, my only choice is to change employers to one that provides access to a better insurer. If I self employ, I cannot get access to those plans.
Insurers should be forced to sell in a single market all the plans they offer. Insurer like to talk about "economy of scale" with large employers, but that is an artificial limit. Why should insurance pools be limited to who works at a company?