House Health Care Bill Bans Coinsurance

According to Greg Scandlen, the House version of the government health care take over bans co-insurance in health insurance policies requiring that only fixed co-pays be used:

“In establishing cost-sharing levels for basic, enhanced, and premium plans under this subsection, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent possible, use only copayments and not coinsurance.” (page 108)

For those not aware, a co-pay is a fixed fee you pay out of pocket when you visit the doctor. You pay the co-pay and your insurance pays the rest. Co-insurance is a rate you pay after your policy’s deductible has been met. Instead of paying $30 per doctor’s visit, you’d pay something like 10% of your health care expenses after the deductible.
Increasingly, health insurance policies have been turning to co-insurance as opposed to co-pays as co-insurance more closely tie the cost of health care to the person getting the care. One of the biggest problems with American health care is a disconnect between the health care consumer and the bill for the health care. There is no incentive for those getting the health care to control costs when they don’t feel the cost burden of their care (at least not directly). Co-pays hide that cost burden because they’re a fixed amount.
Co-insurance does not.
Democrats apparently want to continue the status quo by making it illegal for insurance companies to share cost burdens with the insured. That may sound a-ok to the “social justice” crowd who don’t concern themselves trifling matters like the actual cost of providing health care, but for those of us who realize that the real solution for health care lays with bringing market forces to an industry where they’re woefully absent this is very problematic.