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When credit card companies were deregulated and allowed to compete across state lines, they just moved to the states that allowed them the fewest restrictions. Are credit card customers better off now than they were before the companies were deregulated? I don't think so.
I imagine the same thing would happen with health insurance companies if they were allowed to compete across state lines. It would be a race to the bottom in terms of the benefits they offer. I'm not against deregulation, but I also don't think it'll help much.
Last edited by AnUnidentifiedMale; 02-13-2010 at 09:18 PM..
The only way it would drive down prices is if there were standards set across all state lines and can fall below those standards. They can compete on services.
When credit card companies were deregulated and allowed to compete across state lines, they just moved to the states that allowed them the fewest restrictions. Are credit card customers better off now than they were before the companies were deregulated? I don't think so.
I imagine the same thing would happen with health insurance companies if they were allowed to compete across state lines. It would be a race to the bottom in terms of the benefits they offer. I'm not against deregulation, but I also don't think it'll help much.
The costs would go down but the benefits would be the same or better because the companys would have to fight for your business.
No. all that will happen is that bigger companies will buy out smaller companies and before we know it there will be 4 insurance companies. And prices will be pretty much set.
Aren't the insurers in these different states all owned by the same 2 or 3 companies? I don't think it will make any difference except they'll move to some state that gives them whatever they want like South Dakota and Delaware did for the credit card companies. It'll just be a race to the bottom. This is just another red herring the Repubs throw out like tort reform to make people think they have policy ideas.
The costs would go down but the benefits would be the same or better because the companys would have to fight for your business.
What would stop most of them from merging? I can easily picture the country ending up with three or four mega-companies, all based in states that allow them to charge whatever they want.
Even if this happens, there's probably going to have to be at least some regulation. My hunch is that many Republicans want to remove all regulation from health insurance. I'm sorry, but the free market has its limits in how it can best serve consumers.
I don't know about this one. The NJ state dept of banking and insurance has such high restrictions on auto insurance companies there aren't that many options to choose from and you pay out the wazoo.
I wonder if deregulation of heath insurance companies would both lower prices and FORCE companies to maintain a certain standard of benefits due to competition....b/c if they don't, they won't get much business.
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