Over the last few months, insurance industry executives have offered to reduce premiums for individual insurance plans if the government mandates that all uninsured folks purchase coverage. Insurers argue that by spreading the cost- and risk- of covering the ill and elderly amongst a greater pool of folks, premium costs for everyone will decrease.
A recent letter to the business editor of our local Pittsburgh Post-Gazette lauded the generous nature of the insurance industry for proposing this solution. You can read her letter here.
We thought that it was important to respond to this letter, and to point out that even if everyone is required to purchase individual insurance coverage on the private market, there is no guarantee that premiums will decrease. In fact, premiums may very well continue to increase, unless other concrete steps are taken to reduce costs.
Read our full response here.
