(07/24/05) There’s a lot of talk in Vermont about health insurance coverage and the battle lines have been drawn regarding how this challenge should be addressed.  However, few are talking about why families and individuals are stuck in the ranks of uninsured.  Until we tackle that problem, affordable health insurance will not be accessible and that will fuel the fire for a government controlled single payer system.

Government, like a machine, does not create.  It carries on.  You only have to look at the compassion of the IRS, the effectiveness of our war on poverty and the efficiency of our postal system to determine more government control is the cause and not the solution to our problems.

In 2003, Americans purchased about $95 billion in goods and services over the Internet.  This had a big impact on the growth of our economy and significantly added to the entrepreneurship of many new businesses around the world.  It stimulated greater consumer choice and more competitive prices in our market place.

Why not allow the purchase of health insurance through the Internet, making it more affordable and suitable to our individual needs? Congressman Shadegg (R-Az) and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced a bill in their respective chambers that would allow us to purchase health insurance on line.  It’s called Health Care Choice Act of 2005.

The law would allow consumers to purchase health insurance from another state as long as it meets the financial regulatory obligations of its home state.  It would allow consumers to shop on line for policies that meet their need and not be subjected to Vermont mandates that are so costly.

A recent study on the Cost of Health Care Regulations by William Congdon, Amanda Kowalski and Mark Showalter finds that community rating and guaranteed issue raise the price of an individual policy by 134%.  Both are health insurance mandates in Vermont.

Since 1980, legislatures and the federal government have passed more than 1,000 laws that require consumers to pay for such mandates. In this session of the Vermont legislature there’s a bill that would require insurance companies to pay naturopathic physicians for services rendered.  Why is government requiring consumers and employers to pay for this coverage of politically popular medical service to a few?

Families who buy health insurance in Vermont are forced to pay around $770 per month for a family of four.  That’s for a policy that has a $2000 deductible and 20% co-pay.  In Kansas, that same policy would cost $172.

If consumers were allowed to purchase health insurance via the Internet in any state, they could tear down regulatory barriers and purchase a basic insurance policy that’s affordable and meets their needs.

People would be able to shop around the country and only pay for the benefits they want.  Costs would come down; more people would be able to purchase insurance.  There would be no reason for big government to take over our health care system with a big tax increase that’s being proposed by our legislature.

A recent poll by Zogby showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans would support this Health Care Choice Act of 2005.  The bottom line is that Americans will have more access to affordable health care, our uninsured would be lowered and means tested allowances could be given to the needy to purchase health insurance coverage.

There is no reason why the power of the Internet can’t be used to solve this pressing problem.  Increasing affordability with less mandates should reduce our health insurance costs.  The power of competition through the Internet would allow consumers to purchase coverage with more friendly regulatory climates.

Our Congressional delegation should support this initiative.  We purchase most other products and services through the Web and there’s no reason why health insurance can’t be on that list.

Frank Mazur
South Burlington

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Frank Mazur is a small business owner and was a member of the Vermont House from 1995-2004. He’s also chair of the advisory board to FreedomWorks.com