NC Leglislators Vote To Raise Health Insurance Rates

No, this wasn't the headline for this article found in the Winston Salem Journal Friday, but maybe it should have been:
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173351990787

Next time someone asks that basic question - how come my health insurance just keeps on costing more and more? Just point to this article. This is another case where regulation is increasing the type of treatment that the insurer must provide - and these things don't happen in a vacuum.

You can't demand that an insurer covers more losses and expect to pay the same rate.

It's not that insurance health insurance companies shouldn't offer increased coverage as an option - they should. Allowing insurers and customers different coverage options is the kind common sense solutions that would allow more people to afford insurance and would allow more policyholders to purchase insurance that was more taylored to their needs.

However, the state has no business mandating that it's covered - unless they believe that it's OK to raise rates.

What's worse is how this article presents the new legislation.

They present only the positive side of this bill - that health insurers will be forced to handle mental illnesses the same way that they handle physical ailments. There's a little blurb about the possibility of increased cost, but they quickly provide a retort to this from the bill's supporters.

If you're in North Carolina or one of the other 33 states that require "parity coverage" for mental illnesses, be sure to ask you legislator when he/she starts complaining about the cost of health coverage where they stood on this bill.