The "Premium Bands" in health reform debate

Last Friday, the Baucus (Senate Finance) Committee debated the large variation in premiums that health plans participating in the health insurance exchanges could charge based on age. (Thanks to Michael G who alerted me to this.) The bill currently allows the health plan's premium to vary by a ratio of 4 to 1 between the youngest and the oldest. That's a reduction from the 5 to 1 in the original proposal. (So, for example, if a 25-year old is charged $2000 per year, the 64-year-old would be charged $8000 in premium.) I've already argued (in my Sept 15 post) that this high ratio is not good.
On Friday, Sen. Kerry introduced an amendment to reduce the maximum ratio to 2-1. Both Kerry and Wyden were eloquent about the issue. (If you're a health policy junky, you can hear the entire hearing on C-span, Friday 28).
Kerry ultimately withdrew his amendment, but he promised that it would come up later in the final debate on the Senate Floor. We should watch this issue. The fairness of health reform rests on three things: the premium subsidies for lower-income people; the size of the penalty for those who refuse to buy insurance; and the extent of age-rating variation allowed. So, this is an important aspect of any plan that's put forward.