Last week the New York Times had two related articles about small business and health insurance. The gist of both articles was that insurance companies are free to charge as the wish, and the ability of self-employed and small businesses to purchase health insurance is declining.
One article discussed how, after one employee suffered a serious illness and subsequently passed away, the business became burdened with inordinate rate hikes.
The other article talks about some of the struggles self-employed individuals face as they confront high premiums and denials of coverage.
Another article, from the Salt Lake Tribune, describes a study published in this month’s Pediatrics journal. It breaks down the cost to the community when a child has no health insurance coverage. This study found that it costs a government more to not provide insurance that do provide it.
But, even as our health policy troubles mount, notoriously unpopular insurance providers are still a good buy.