Car Insurance Regulation Needs To Be Applied To Health Insurance

By Susan Thompson on February 21, 2010, 8:01 am

In all but two of 50 US states, a regulation exists mandating every driver be covered by auto insurance. In the most heavily congested states in CA, NY and NJ, large numbers of vehicles create traffic congestion which increases auto accidents. When a traffic violation occurs, drivers are fined and can lose driving privileges if proof of auto insurance is not produced.

Health Insurance – Should It Be Regulated

Health insurance, at present, is optional. In some cases, it may be provided by employers or through Medicare for older, retired citizens. However, should an epidemic occur with long-term debilitation of masses of individuals, cost of health care would seriously damage a nation’s economy. This is the best reason health care should not be optional. Who would pay for care needed by the uninsured should a national epidemic occur?

Health Care Insurance Regulation

To ignore this particular aspect of health care insurance regulation is foolhardy. With contagious diseases, quarantine would not be enough to insure that such diseases would not spread to the rest of the population. Health care insurance is unaffordable for most low and middle income wage earners. Employers have been forced to drop health care insurance for their employees since cost increases have risen to 35% in a single year.

States Rights vs. Federal Regulation of Health Care Insurance

Health insurance, like life insurance, creates a pool of insured who pay premiums into an insurance pool thereby creating insurance coverage when needed. It is incumbent upon the US government to create health care insurance regulations on a federal level rather than a state level. Left to states, some states would regulate health care insurance while others would not, creating uneven coverage status across states merely to bow to states’ rights over federal mandates. Federal health care insurance compliance would be similar to compliance with environmental regulations.

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