Trump to Allow Selling Insurance Across State Lines

Trump to Pass HealthCare Promise By Allowing Insurers to Sell Across State Lines

Trump indicated he would allow insurers to sell across state lines, this idea was in his campaign platform and can be done by executive order.^[1][2]

The move is hardly the most controversial of Trump’s campaign promises, but this long-time Republican favorite has its pros and cons.

The Pros and Cons of Selling Insurance Across State Lines

The pros and cons of selling across state lines include, but aren’t limited to:

Pros: Insurers can bring down costs by selling across state lines in some cases, as they can form bigger groups of buyers. This can help people who often travel, allowing them to have a multi-state health plan options. This can help businesses who have to offer plans in many different states. With that said, the biggest benefit here also leads us into our cons section, that is: people can take advantage of plans offered by states with lax regulations.

Cons: If a state with lax regulations offers a plan that any individual, family, or business can buy, for example, a plan that excludes certain benefits for women, it could result in many buying that plan for reasons of cost. This would mean less money spread around for full-coverage plans, and big profits for that restricted-coverage plan. This could backfire in a number of ways, raising costs of full-coverage insurance, and catching people off guard when they realize they have a plan that does not meet their medical needs (be it through their employer, or purchased on their own).

There are lots of good things to say about selling across state lines, but it opens the door for loopholes that let insurers sell junk plans nationwide. If that happens, it could result in sub-par care for those on these sorts of restricted-benefit plans and higher premiums for those with full-coverage plans.

When Trump claimed in his speech back on July 19th “your premiums will be down 60 and 70 percent” he wasn’t only telling half the story. Premiums in some in high-cost regions for those who want restricted-benefit plans could see their costs go down by this much, but many others could see their costs rise due to the healthy fleeing full-coverage plans in search of low-cost restricted-benefit coverage.^[3]

FACT: Trump also stated that he would work with Democrats to find a bipartisan solution for healthcare. Time will tell how we should interpret that statement.

1. Trump says he’ll sign executive order allowing purchase of health insurance across state lines
2. Sorry, Trump: Selling Health Insurance Across State Lines Wouldn’t Lower Costs
3. Selling Insurance Across State Lines By Lori Robertson posted on July 21, 2017