Fortenberry (R-NE) has introduced H.R.6280, “America’s Affordable Health Care Act” which gives consumers access to more affordable, less-heavily regulated health insurance policies. The bill would permit insurance companies to offer up to three “health benefit plans” or policies with limited benefit mandates, thus providing cheaper policies for those who desire them.

Individuals and families struggling to find coverage would have the option of purchasing these cheaper plans through the individual market. This could have a major, positive impact in mitigating the uninsured problem that those on the left so often use to promote use to justify additional government meddling in the health care marketplace to achieve “universal” health care.

States strictly control which health insurance policies can be offered to residents. Unfortunately, over time, special interests have successfully lobbied legislatures to force insurance companies to cover particular services. Everything from alcoholism to hair prostheses and morbid obesity is covered by law in particular states depending on the law.

As of 2008, New Mexico has 51 mandates while Minnesota has the most in the nation with 64 and Idaho has the least with only 15.

According to the Council for Affordable Health Insurance mandates can drive the costs of health insurance up from a little less than 20% to more than 50%, depending on the state and its mandates. Other studies estimate that benefit mandates price as many as 1 in 4 Americans who are uninsured out of the individual market. Currently, sixteen states allow individuals and families to purchase insurance plans with limited mandates. Fortenberry’s bill builds on the efforts in those states.

The bill also enhances portability by allowing reciprocal agreements between insurance companies. This will make it easier for individuals to take their benefits with them from one insurance company to the next.

Finally, the bill expands and encourages the development of “best practice protocols” for state high-risk pools. State high-risk pools help people who are uninsurable in the private market to get health coverage. Fortenberry’s bill expands funding for them. Further, some high risk pools work well, while others do not. By encouraging the development of best practice protocols, states will have guidelines they can use to improve the performance of their high-risk pools.

Fortenberry’s attempt to mitigate the impact of mandates is not entirely new. Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) has been promoting his own concept which is contained in the Health Care Choice Act, HR 4460.

Shadegg’s bill gets at the problem of burdensome regulation by letting people purchase health insurance out of state. But the 2005 legislation, which was introduced when Republicans still controlled both houses of Congress, ran into major opposition from Blue Cross Blue Shield plans which benefit from majority market share in many states.

The Shadegg approach is the ideal means of demolishing state health insurance monopolies because it would not only force states to compete on the basis of mandates, but it would also spur competition with rate regulation, community rating, and other factors that drive up health care premiums.

But now that the Shadegg idea is largely being fought at the state level—seven states have introduced versions of the Health Care Choice Act—Fortenberry’s legislation would be a big step towards achieving federal-level reform. That makes Fortenberry’s plan worthy of consideration by conservatives and market advocates.