As healthcare costs rise and consumers seek more choice, the individual market offers a path forward to insure America.
For most people, few choices are more personal than those involving their healthcare.
Yet in the United States, healthcare decisions are rarely personal. Instead, they’re shaped by HR departments, benefits managers, and chief financial officers – all because of the employer-sponsored insurance model.
Americans feel the impact of this system every day. It drives up healthcare costs, limits plan choices, and means that, when employees change jobs, they often lose their coverage.
During a live event with The Washington Post Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini made a strong case for a better alternative: the individual market. “The individual market offers employees and consumers the ability to choose their own product, choose their own network, choose their own coverage at a cost that's affordable and competitive,” he said in an interview with journalist Kathleen Koch.
Here are the most important takeaways from their conversation.
The individual market gives consumers more choice and control
For many Americans, choosing a healthcare plan typically means selecting from a short list of pre-approved options selected by their employers. This often results in higher costs and fewer options, regardless of employees’ specific needs.
The individual market flips that dynamic on its head because “employees can see what they're buying,” said Bertolini. “I can find my network, my doctor, my hospital, which when people change situations, employers, or are in and out of employment, they have to find another plan and another network.”