The private market can’t solve the nation’s health care problem.

Well, that’s a provocative headline. Is it true? It’s today fashionable to think the Supreme Court will rule that the feds can’t force a person to buy health insurance (or broccoli – and I like broccoli). There are some interesting takeaways:

Why health insurance subsidizes the elderly

Over at the Speaking of Actuaries blog, SOA President Brad Miller puzzles over why Obamacare has younger buyers subsidizing older ones: I discussed this with someone who works on Capitol Hill. I told him I understood the criteria for the first three but was struggling to understand the reason for the young to old age [...]

Obama pulls the plug on long-term care

With the story, The Washington Post. Back when I blogged a lot about health care reform, I pegged the CLASS Act as a stinker. Looks like the White House figured it out: An actuarial review that Health and Human Services has just released confirms [. . .] the administration could not design a long-term care [...]

Attention, sports fans: COBRA, Obamacare could aid locked-out footballers

Via Insurance Journal: Most agents are now talking frequently about COBRA coverage, which one agent estimates will cost players $800 to $900 per month to cover their families. Some are advising clients to take out additional medical policies or disability insurance. Agent Brian Mackler, who represents Jets linebacker David Harris, said most of his clients [...]

The hidden subsidy in health care reform

I want to show how Obamacare includes a hidden subsidy for the middle class. It’s a feature of any insurance system with an individual mandate and government subsidies. The government pays full freight for the poor person’s insurance, but some of that subsidy ends up lowering costs for wealthier people. Here’s an example of how [...]

Actuary of the Year: The winner is . . . .

. . . . David Axene, whose firm, well, here’s a piece of the CA DOI press release (at David Axene’s web site): Based upon a thorough review of Anthem’s calculations, Axene found numerous errors in the methodology used by Anthem to project total lifetime loss ratios. Correcting these errors resulted in lower lifetime loss [...]

Is “Obamacare” pejorative?

Via Megan McArdle, and James Joyner defend their use of Obamacare, which I gather some call “wingnut terminology.” Interesting. I use the term and I have never meant to demean the program. I think it is a good American-style private/public approach to a real public health problem. I think the program has a good chance [...]

Health agents keep on fighting

Health insurance agents were probably the notable losers in the debate over Obamacare’s rules on the medical loss ratios. Their last minute plea to exempt their commissions from the definition of premium failed. But all is not lost. Late last month, the NAIC announced a special task force to “address potential adverse impacts on the [...]

The medical loss ratio game

The Department of Health and Human Services largely rubber-stamped the NAIC’s recommendations for medical loss ratios. Recall these are the rules behind calculating that health insurers spend 80 cents of the premium dollar on providing medical services (85 cents for group health plans). Insurance Journal summarizes here. Unhappy are the insurance agents. They wanted commissions [...]

Health-care rant(s): Treat our kids better

Write about health care long enough, and you get to post a first-person rant. Here’s mine. My wife and I are moving our kids to new pediatricians. We were concerned about privacy. A few weeks ago, the front office was discussing what happened in the doctor’s office during my 8-year-old’s check up. My other daughter, [...]