'Risk Equalisation' set aside by Supreme Court

No.
RE is a blunt instrument which actively discourages entrants into the market.
RE distorts the market in favour of the longer established encumbants.

I would prefer a strong national health system, enough to dissuade people from thinking they require private health insurance.
We do not have such a system, so the gap is filled by the private sector - who are then told they cannot compete properly in a market which was created because the state has failed to deliver adequate health services.
 
There is a simple solution to this problem. Re-assign blocks of people from the older demographic until the risk profile of the new insurers matches that of the older ones. I would see nothing wrong with a situation where people over 50 are automatically re-assigned to a new insurer (with an 'opt-out' right). After all, it is only inertia keeping many of them with VHI.

Why, I wonder, have VHI not canvassed for this approach to be taken?
 

Sounds sensible, alright. 'Older' people could be asked at renewal time and explicitly shown the breakdown of equivalent plans from all insurers along with price, and asked if they want to switch.

MOB said:
Why, I wonder, have VHI not canvassed for this approach to be taken?
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Easier just to take large payouts from the competition.
 
NicolaM said:
Cuban health care system excellent, I wish we could transplant it here..
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Are you making this statement based on an intimate knowledge of the Cuban medical care system, or just the propaganda from a dictatorship?

It's something of a truism on Internet message boards discussing medical care that someone will mention how "great" the Cuban medical system is and how well the Western world would do to emulate it.

If you wanted to be treated by doctors working round the clock for less than the average taxi driver because they're worried what will happen their family if they don't show up for work, then fine, apply for a Cuban visa. But pray don't wish such a miserable existence on others who happen to have had the good fortune to be born into a democracy.
 
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"Are you making this statement based on an intimate knowledge of the Cuban medical care system, or just the propaganda from a dictatorship?"

I don't think it's quite as black and white as all that. Even a cursory web search will turn up commentators who have no truck with the socialist model, but who nevertheless have some admiration for what has been achieved in Cuban healthcare.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/review/review_summer_02/677cuba.html
 
Well said. A totalitarian dictatorship can impose any system it wants.
 

Whether they have "truck" with the socialist model is open to debate but you cannot ignore the fact that their "miracle" system is only made possible through virtue of being a dictatorship. Doctors can be made to work for a pittance (hence the high doctor-to-patient ratio) and health officials can indoctrinate and bully the general populace into adopting lifestyles that are less likely to see them end up in hospital.

Seriously, it's like admiring the education system in North Korea because the kids are too scared not to study hard.

From the linked article:

 
Quote:
Originally Posted by NicolaM http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=671665#post671665
Cuban health care system excellent, I wish we could transplant it here..
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If Cuban health care is so good, then how come they have a low life expectancy?

How did Bupa 'target younger people' ? They advertised their products publically - everyone was equally aware of what they offered and their costs. Why did older people not switch ?
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Here's one example of how Bupa targeted younger people.

May of the US multinationals in Ireland have private health insurance as part of the package of benefits to employees. These companies tend to have young workforces. Bupa targeted these companies and did deals to become the designated health insurance provider and in doing so acquired significant numbers of young and healthy members.
 

Why didn't VHI offer these deals then? In fact Dell and EMC both use VHI for this purpose - and they are only 2 I have personal experience of.
 
I work for a major US multinational and both VHI and Bupa/Quinn are available to us.
Previous US multinationals I worked for only offered VHI in pre-Bupa days. So why are VHI losing what was a previous captive audience ?
 
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