Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Interstate Commerce: The Route to Wider Coverage

By Grace-Marie Turner

Categories: Insurance Regulation

Allowing consumers to purchase health insurance across state lines could bring down premiums and significantly reduce the number of uninsured, reports a new study by Steve Parente, Roger Feldman and others, released at a recent American Enterprise Institute conference.

The paper includes a simulation model and analysis of the impact of several new purchasing scenarios, including allowing competition among health insurers across state lines within four regions of the country.

The study's authors determined that the moderate (most likely) impact would be that 11 million more people who are currently uninsured would obtain coverage, and conclude that opening insurance to competition across state borders would lead to substantial additional health care access and health improvements among the vulnerable populations who currently find health insurance unaffordable.

In addition, development of a national market requires no additional federal resources other than support for legislation to permit it.