400: Protecting patient choice, and a North Dakota Democrat switches sides

The American system for insurance and health care is broken. There's no two ways about it. We pay too much, and get too few choices.

How much can North Dakota's lawmakers do about it? Not a whole lot, but there are things they can do to keep it from getting worse. House Bill 1416 would stop insurers from using price pressure convince North Dakotans to opt-in to health insurance plans that freeze out independent health care proviers.

Dr. Duncan Ackerman, an orthopedic surgeon and a spokesman for North Dakotans for Open Access Health Care, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the issue.

Also on this episode, guest co-host Jamie Selzer and I discuss the push in the Legislature to put another term limits option before voters, one that alters the term limits amendment they just approved last year. We also talk about former U.S. House candidate Mark Haugen's decision to leave the Democratic-NPL and join the NDGOP. Haugen's House campaign ended after party big-wigs pressured him to bow out in favor of former Miss America Cara Mund, an independent candidate who was a late entrant to the race.

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