What I learned at Haas Business School's Health Care Conference

My latest column at Forbes: Apothecary is here.

Real Insurance Could Never Operate With An 85% Loss Ratio

Obamacare demands that most health plans operate with a medical loss ratio (MLR) of 85 percent (or 80 percent for the individual market).

Politicians, bureaucrats, and people in general are very fixated on how much of our premiums go to administrative costs, including executive salaries and profits, of health plans. It’s easy to understand a politician winning applause for promising that she’ll ensure health plans spend more of their revenue on patient care.

But there is an even more fundamental question: Why are politicians not attacking other (non-health) insurers who spend only 70, 60, or even 50 cents on the dollar in claims? Surely these insurers are even “greedier” than health insurers.

Read the entire article at John Goodman's Health Policy Blog.

Health Spending Grows, While Premium Growth Accelerates

As I wrote in my last Health Policy Prescription, Obamacare has resulted in increasing administrative costs and margins of insurers.  Here is a shorter, bloggy, version of the article.

Health Reform in Idaho: Say No to Obamacare Exchange Handout

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being a guest of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which invited me to speak to legislators and civic leaders on the question of how Idaho should respond to Obamacare.

Unfortunately, governor Otter has accepted $20.4 million from the federal government to impose Obamacare in Idaho.

Here is a short video and partial transcript of my remarks.