Yesterday, UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer, announced that it would keep in place several consumer provisions mandated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, regardless of whether the law is upheld by the Supreme Court.
These provisions include allowing parents to keep their adult children on their plans up to the age of 26, requiring no co-pays on preventative health care, putting no lifetime limits on insurance payouts, and prohibiting the rescinding of coverage after a member becomes ill.
Is UnitedHealthcare’s plan incredibly generous? Will it change the healthcare playing field?
Paul Starr is professor of sociology and public policy at Princeton and author of “The Social Transformation of American Medicine.” He also served as senior health policy advisor in the Clinton White House.
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Comments [2]
...Compared with Medicare...
As Professor Starr has suggested, the lesson of 1993-4 should be the main guide. Once the pressure is off the insurance companies, the cost-benefit actuaries will kick in and the main thrust will be profit, which will just reduce benefits.
The main question, which has never been satisfactorily answered, is "What do the insurance companies provide in terms of medical services?" The answer is always none. Just look at the percentages of administrative costs of American healthcare compared with other nations.
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