Stephen Chapman mentioned some valid points in describing President Clinton’s proposal to expand Medicare to those 55 or older (“A step down the wrong health-care road,” Op-Ed, Jan. 15). What Mr. Chapman failed to mention, though, was the net positive effect such an expansion would have on the claim experience of our nation’s private insurance companies.
By taking the individuals with the greatest likelihood of serious illness out of the general risk pool, this proposal is certainly favorable to the insurance industry. Just as Clinton’s educational subsidies will pave the way for tuition increases, this proposal will help the private insurance industry to claim that it is holding the cost of health care in check, thus reducing, not increasing, the push for controls or universal care. The same cost crisis that faces Medicare also affects the private-sector insurers.
This proposal to expand Medicare thus allows the insurance industry to increase its promotion of medical-supplement insurance, the only kind of individual insurance it wants to sell.
