Punishing the young

Democrats seem unable to bear the thought that Americans would want to use health insurance plans that the Biden administration doesn't favor. President Biden this month proposed a new rule that would throw thousands of people off insurance rather than let them keep the plans they have chosen.

The proposed rule is sickening, figuratively and probably literally, too. It should not be allowed to take effect.

Biden says he is "cracking down on junk insurance" by limiting allowable options for some time-limited policies. What his nanny-bureaucrats call "junk" is insurance that 1.5 million people now, and 3 million since 2018, have chosen as the best option for their needs. These short-term health plans provide an attractive, less costly option, especially attractive to younger, healthier people.

They may not cover every benefit the Biden commissars want to force us all to buy, but that should not be the government's concern. If a person buying insurance is a 25-year-old man or a fit 50-year-old woman, why should they be forced to pay for coverage of, for example, breastfeeding equipment and birth control? Or for pregnancy, maternity, and newborn care?

Analysts say the short-term plans can save customers 50%-80% in monthly premiums, or about $4,800 per year. There are plenty of young, healthy workers for whom that can make a huge difference, whether for making payments on a new home, avoiding debt, affording healthier eating habits, or whatever. Yet here Biden wants to deny them that option, all for health-insurance plans that contain features that customers decide they don't need.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that while some people who hold short-term insurance would be moved to more expensive options, about 500,000 each year would become uninsured. Some people may lose the option to be covered because if their short-term plans expire mid-year due to Biden's new rule, they will not be eligible to purchase an Obamacare plan until the next open enrollment period.

When former President Trump expanded availability of short-term insurance, the result was good not just for the customers but for the whole system. Health care inflation slowed dramatically.

Biden thinks government must protect people from their own decisions, even if it costs them a lot of extra money.

This Biden rule is about transferring wealth from young healthy people who require little medical care to older people who need more. It will make young people poorer when they need all the money they can get to start a family.

Lawmakers should block Biden's proposed rule limiting short-term plans, and citizens should flood the government through "public comment" forums for federal rule making. Biden's obsession with punishing the young to subsidize the old shouldn't be allowed to make the whole system less healthy.

— The Washington Examiner