Cost of Insurance A Critical Factor

By the News-Register
West Virginia legislators attempting to find ways to provide health insurance for more state residents may hear some good ideas from one consultant working on their project — but we hope they take some of his advice with a grain of salt.

Chairmen of the state Senate and House of Delegates health committees have announced a plan to create a “road map” to provide basic health insurance coverage to all West Virginians. At present, about 245,000 Mountain State residents have no health insurance.

Del. Don Perdue, D-Wayne County and state Sen. Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, chair the health committees in their respective houses. On Monday at the state Capitol, they noted that West Virginians, in general, have health problems worse than those of people in most other states. Health insurance could curb some of them.a

But the two lawmakers hope to devise a plan whereby insurance can be provided without enormous expenditures or new layers of government bureaucracy. That, we fear, is a pipe dream.

Kenneth Thorpe, an Emory University professor, has been retained by the legislators to begin planning for their project. On Monday, he told a reporter, “We need to sort of put the payment side aside and say, ‘What’s the best delivery system?’”

We hope legislators do not take that advice. It is impossible to provide health insurance without spending substantial sums of money. Covering 245,000 people is likely to be an expensive proposition. Putting aside considerations of cost at the beginning of the process is an invitation to a bloated system — more expensive than might have been achieved had dollars and cents been factored into the process from the beginning.a

It is relatively easy to accomplish anything if money to do so is available. But money is reason why many West Virginians lack health insurance. Financing needs to be a part of the new study from the very start.