The same people (legitimately) whining about insurance premiums are whining for the passage of mental health parity — an insurance mandate that could drive up prices by as much as a percent (and those percents add up). That means, even if you don’t want it, you have to pay for it. You have to pay extra so that Prozac can be dispensed like candy, and therapy can be doled out, etc etc — so they’ll not have to pay for it out of pocket. I don’t want to downplay the problem of depression and mental illness in America, but this is just more social engineering that encourages people to gorge unnecessarily on healthcare goods and services — which (duh) makes it more expensive for everyone.
Also, higher premiums due to mandates like mental health parity mean employers may find it impossible to offer health insurance at work, and drop it. As this brief analysis from the NCPA suggests:
"According to a Blue Cross Blue Shield estimate, for every 1 percent increase in the cost of health insurance premiums due to mandated benefits, 3 percent of small employers are forced to drop health coverage for their employees. Thus if parity legislation increases the cost of premiums by about 10 percent, 30 percent of small employers would no longer offer coverage to their employees. A Congressional Budget Office study estimates that for every 1 percent increase in premiums, 200,000 Americans lose their insurance. This implies that a nationwide parity law would cause 2 million additional people to be uninsured."
One more step closer to socialized medicine. Many more uninsured and on Medicaid. It must be stopped.
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