No progress on Republican bill

Republican lawmakers sought to pass a law to allow people to buy insurance outside the state where they live with the idea it would increase competition and drive down prices.

"Republicans support the idea because they believe one reason health care costs are high is that some states impose too stringent regulation on insurers; if their state residents can shop for cheaper coverage from out-of-state insurance, they argue it will promote competition, enhance choice and reduce costs,” said Jonathan Oberlander, a health policy professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Democrats, on the other hand, take a skeptical view of lower regulation.

"They worry about a race to the bottom; insurers selling inadequate insurance plans that evade state regulations and that skim off the healthiest customers, making everyone else's insurance more expensive,” Oberlander said.

Interestingly, the health care law allows sales of insurance across state lines, but it happens only if insurers adhere to stricter regulation.

According to the Urban Institute, a think tank focusing on poverty and social issues, the law "requires all states to comply with a minimum level of insurance regulation, and cross state sales would not be permitted in a state unless that state affirmatively joined a compact with one or more other states.”

Oberlander added that it's unclear how many states will choose to set up such compacts.
   
Meanwhile, Blackburn's bill in the House hasn't moved in more than a year. It was referred to a subcommittee in February 2011 and has withered on the vine.

Allowing the purchase of health insurance across state lines is now the law of the land, at least in the form Democrats favor it. House Republicans have a different version, but they've taken no action on their own bill.

We rate this a Promise Broken.