Interstate Purchase of Health Insurance? No Magic Bullet

Many conservatives promote the idea of interstate purchase of health insurance as a solution to the health-insurance crisis. What exactly does this mean?

In fact, health insurers "sell across state lines" already. Generally speaking, large insurers either have separate subsidiaries in different states (e.g. WellPoint) or write policies from a balance sheet in the state in which they are domiciled (e.g CIGNA).

But interstate purchase as described by conservative activists is somewhat different. In a podcast produced by the Heartland Institute, I explain why it is an impractical solution.

Listen to it here.