David Weinstein on Health Insurance & Competition

Throughout his career, David Weinstein has worked in health insurance. He’s owned his own medical billing company, he’s owned a medical collection company, he’s owned a medical transcription agency, and he was responsible for creating one of the first health care co-ops in the nation. It’s safe to say that for David Weinstein, health insurance is a bit of a hobby and a bit of an obsession. It’s something he spends a lot of time thinking about.

Recently, when he was asked to describe the fundamentals of health insurance, David Weinstein kept circling back to the idea of competition. It’s a little-known fact that insurance plans thrive on competition, he says. They need to keep rates low, so employers will choose them and individuals will choose them. They also need to keep quality rates up, so members won’t simply walk away when something better comes along.

Fierce competition relies on a robust marketplace, full of many players. For David Weinstein, health insurance rates would logically go down if the plans were allowed to cross state lines. Right now, they cannot as legislation and rules stand in the way. But with these roadblocks removed, the competition could be fast and furious, and consumers could truly benefit. It’s an idea that David Weinstein would like to see become a reality.

Since he does know so much about health insurance, David Weinstein is often asked to weigh in on these sorts of topics in interviews. He has also advised legislators in the past on the complexities of health insurance. Here’s hoping that his reasonable, down-to-Earth approach to the thorny problems facing health care in American will catch on. He might be able to provide insight that could be part of a larger solution we all need.