IN HIS Nov. 3 op-ed column “An option for public: less government, more choice,’’ Jeff Jacoby suggests tearing down barriers to buying health insurance across state lines, and says that when it comes to almost any other product or service, Americans would find such barriers “intolerable.’’ I disagree.
Consider what happened to the credit card industry. Most states have anti-usury laws. Credit card companies based in Massachusetts, for example, cannot charge more than 20 percent interest on a loan. So, no credit card companies are based in Massachusetts. They are all based in states with no anti-usury laws, such as Utah and South Dakota. The result is that credit card companies are now charging 25 to 30 percent on cash advances and revolving credit.
On the health care front, Jacoby suggests that individuals negotiate on their own, but what power do individuals have? Employees can bargain for coverage for all their workers, including those with preexisting conditions. What company would sell insurance to anyone with preexisting conditions if it didn’t have to?
Look at the worst policies in the states with the least regulation - policies with caps on total reimbursement, so they don’t fully cover cancer treatments, and with disqualifications for one illness because of minor undisclosed preexisting conditions not at all related. These policies would be the norm.
Jacoby’s recommendations are a prescription for disaster.
Maxine Bridger
Newton 
