An individual can purchase health insurance in California with a $5,000 deductible for as low as $70 a month. In New York, an individual can purchase that same $5,000 deductible policy for $324 a month. 

Why the difference? 

In California, insurers can deny you coverage if you’re deemed too expensive based on age or pre-existing conditions. They can cherry pick for healthy people. One of the benefits of cherry-picking is ultra-cheap plans. In New York, they cannot:

In 1993, motivated by stories of suffering AIDS patients, the state became one of the first to require insurers to extend individual or small group coverage to anyone with pre-existing illnesses.

New York also became one of the few states that require insurers within each region of the state to charge the same rates for the same benefits, regardless of whether people are old or young, male or female, smokers or nonsmokers, high risk or low risk.

Health insurance reform turns every state into New York…and then some. It also mandates that insurance companies provide preventive services free of charge, increasing the costs even more.

New York is one of only a handful of states with these laws. Therefore, after insurance reform goes into effect, all across America, the cheapest plans that make the most sense for young, healthy people, will be four to five times more expensive than what they are today.