Selling Health Insurance Across State Lines Sounds Good, But Is It?

Presidential candidates like to float solutions to long-standing problems. Making those solutions stick is another thing altogether.

When it comes to health care, the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, rather than tamping down chatter about how to insure people, seems only to have spurred more of it.

But you know what? There's a reason some problems are long-standing. They may have no easy solution. Or the solution isn't politically feasible. Or there's a solution that sounds good on the campaign trail but isn't likely to actually work.

In the first of a series of videos about health policy promises that sound like a good idea but maybe aren't, Julie Rovner explores why increasing competition in health insurance by allowing sales of policies across state lines might not be such a hot idea after all.

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One of the seven planks outlined by Donald Trump in a health plan his campaign released in March calls for interstate sales of insurance.

Watch and listen as Julie explains why selling insurance across state lines isn't all it's cracked up to be. Spoiler alert: Georgia, Maine and Wyoming already allow it, and insurers haven't taken advantage of the option.

Copyright 2023 Kaiser Health News. To see more, visit Kaiser Health News.