an illustration of how coverage of non-catastrophic health care services drives up premiums

The example? Abortion coverage-- when separated from base coverage...

Since abortion is neither rare nor catastrophic, it is not something to be covered by "insurance". Mandating it, on net, drives up rates, adds to health cost inflation, etc.-- the sort of problems we find with the status quo in goverment's subsidy and regulation of health care and health insurance.

From the WaPo's Peter Slevin in the C-J...

In North Dakota, where insurers can cover abortions if customers pay a separate premium, the state's largest provider says it sells no abortion policies because no one has asked to buy one.

Amid a high-stakes debate over abortion that could determine the fate of President Obama's health-care initiative, North Dakota's law offers a test because it is much like the language favored by antiabortion lawmakers on Capitol Hill, notably Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI).

"We have no member who elected to have abortion riders," said Denise Kolpack, vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, which covers about 80 percent of the North Dakota market. "We would be legally bound to provide an offering, but we have no groups that have requested it."

Similar policies are in place in Kentucky, Missouri, Idaho and Oklahoma...