Community rating: an idea whose time has come (again)

The 20-year movement away from community rating of health insurance premiums in favor of experience rating has produced extreme inequities in the availability and affordability of health insurance coverage in the U.S. Current rating practices also have contributed to a rapid shift among employers to self-insure, thus allowing them to rewrite their benefit plans. By returning to a community rating system, the nation would eliminate many of these current market distortions.