A Word From The Publisher

We were happy to read that the New York State legislature has addressed the problem of young people not being able to afford health insurance. As we're sure many parents in the Village are aware, very frequently people just out of college go without insurance because the cost of individual premiums are simply unaffordable to them. At least by staying on their parents' policies until age 25 they have a chance to find permanent employment that (hopefully) provides insurance.

We hope the legislature continues to look at the problems of real people who need insurance. As we are all too well aware, the cost for small businesses to insure their employees has been rising rapidly in the last few years. Ten to fifteen percent annual increases are the norm now, even during a time of low inflation.

On the other hand, the cost of losing coverage could financially destroy a family. We know someone who unfortunately lost her husband to cancer at a young age. Because he was the primary policy holder, when he stopped working he lost his insurance. She was faced with paying exorbitant premiums through COBRA, which she could not long afford. Luckily, she had coverage through her own job, with which she was able to cover him as well. If she didn't have that safety net she undoubtedly would have faced bankruptcy as well as early widowhood. That just shouldn't happen in America.

We think the legislature should look into further "tweaking" the insurance industry. How about telling the insurers that they can't give preferential treatment to large companies? Equal pay for equal policies only seems fair.

How about making a law that says that insurance companies have to insure everyone, not just the healthy. Spread the risk to all policy holders. The New York Times recently had a story about a woman who had beaten breast cancer, but due to a change of jobs lost her insurance. When she tried to buy an individual policy, she found an individual policy would cost $26,000 a year due to her previous illness. Again, it seems as if this is another double whammy that really shouldn't happen in America.

Meg Morgan Norris

Publisher