Health Insurance Deregulation and Senator McCain

John McCain has been getting flack because of an article he wrote in a little magazine, Contingencies magazine. The Washington Post reports this recent heat he is receiving.

In the Contingencies magazine article, McCain writes that he is for deregulating individual health insurance marketplaces in order to increase competition.

Allowing people to purchase health plans across state lines is part of McCain's health insurance reform plan. This would ensure people not to be bound by in state regulations. This idea is not a problem, it is the timing that is off. Wall Street's problems are in part due to the deregulation of the financial market.

In the article, McCain writes: "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

On the surface, yes it seems like McCain's plan doesn't sound like a good idea after the meltdown on Wall Street. But is it correct to compare Wall Street regulation with health insurance regulation?