Re: “Public option already in state,” Oct. 12 Page 1 news story.
As a longtime Coloradan, I was excited to return to my home state in 2002 after a stint working in California. My excitement was tempered, however, when I was rejected for health insurance by every carrier in the state.
I had had a minor brush with cancer while living in San Diego. A small melanoma in situ was surgically removed, with no chemo, no radiation and a subsequent clean bill of health. But not clean enough, apparently, for the companies that sell health insurance in Colorado.
Then I found out about CoverColorado. Without it, I’d be uninsured, despite excellent health and the ability to pay for insurance. So I thank the citizens and government of Colorado every time my premium is deducted from my checking account.
But I’ve never lost my anger at the so-called insurance carriers that, as former Senate Majority Leader and surgeon Bill Frist recently pointed out, are allowed to “cherrypick” their customers by rejecting higher risk applicants. By violating the fundamental principle of insurance — risk pooling — these companies maximize their profits on the backs of the unlucky and unfortunate.
So I should be a big supporter of expanding CoverColorado as a so-called “public option,” shouldn’t I? Absolutely not. Quite simply, it lets insurance companies off the hook. They can continue to offload applicants they deem to be higher risk to state and federal government. In fact, expanding high-risk pools like CoverColorado to include more people will only help make insurance companies pickier and more profitable.
Instead, we should make insurance companies act like insurance companies. Require them to accept all applicants. Let them charge different rates, and focus state and federal help on those who have trouble making the payments. But make the companies pool risk like they are supposed to do.
The best thing that could happen is CoverColorado goes away, and insurance companies that want to sell in Colorado have to accept all applicants. And only wise regulation — not co-ops, public options or expanded high-risk pools — will make that happen.
Nick DiGiacomo is a retired technology executive and entrepreneur in Telluride.
