Americans go on churning in and out of various health-insurance plans as their jobs, finances, location, and eligibility change, but doing so is exhausting, bewildering, and an inefficient use of everyone’s time, energy, and money. Worse, insurance companies know that many of their customers will leave them for another plan at some point. As a result insurers have little incentive to cover preventive care that could save costs in the long run. For private insurers offering plans through employers, the best strategy is to pay as little as possible now—people’s future health be damned.
