Zaniya: Disconnect on Drop-Down Options

The Madville Times continues its review of the Zaniya Project Task force final report with a look at Recommendation #3, on drop-down options for folks taking COBRA coverage after leaving an employer. The Zaniya folks recognize that many people who leave a job with good health coverage can't buy continued coverage because of the high cost. Following the "something is better than nothing" philosophy, the report recommends mandating insurance companies create "drop-down" options to make continued coverage more affordable.

Such a move would create more options, all right. An ex-employee could continue her (and her family's) current coverage at the current exorbitant rates, or the lucky ex-employee could continue just half or a quarter or whatever sliver of her previous coverage the insurer would offer at a slightly less exorbitant rate.

Forgive me if that "solution" doesn't make me leap up and cheer.

The drop-down recommendation exposes another philosophical foul-up in the goofy American system of saddling employers with the burden of health coverage. Now, the mere fact that you are no longer a secretary or a graphic designer in a particular firm justifies reducing your health coverage. Tying employment to health coverage becomes particularly problematic in the fast-evolving global economy, when we can expect to change jobs and constantly renew our education throughout our careers? How many people decide not to take a chance on starting their own business or going back to school simply because of the difficulty of obtaining affordable and effective health coverage (effective meaning a policy that won't leave them broke after paying their $10,000 deductible, which is the only policy they could reasonably afford while building their new businesses or going to school)?

Entrepreneurship and lifelong education are filled with enough risks without also having to gamble one's own and one's family's health and financial security on health coverage. The drop-down options Zaniya only perpetuate the penalties our "free" market imposes for changing jobs and seeking more knowledge and skills. Leave a job, try something new, and you deserve less health coverage -- that doesn't make sense.