Beware of ‘health plan nostalgia’ in reporting on insurance cancellations

Michael Hiltzik (@hiltzikm) of the Los Angeles Times has done some fine reporting about the bottom line on the health insurance cancellations.

In this piece, he reminds us that, until this wave of headlines about people losing their beloved individual health policies, people hated their individual health policies. Prices rose every year, benefits were skimpier than employer-sponsored coverage, there were lots of out-of-pocket costs, people got dropped from plans – and people who had pre-existing conditions couldn’t get plans.

“It’s time to retire the threadbare meme that the cancellation notices are depriving…