Latest Pajamas Media Post ('ObamaCare: Get Ready for the Mother of All
Epic Fails') Is Up
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/24/latest-pajamas-media-post-obamacare-get-ready-for-the-mother-of-all-epic-fails-is-up/>
Filed under: Economy
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/economy/>, Education
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/education/>, Environment
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/environment/>, Health Care
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/health-care/>, Immigration
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/immigration/>, Taxes & Government
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/taxes-government/> --- TBlumer @ 7:35 am
It's here
<http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obamacare-get-ready-for-the-mother-of-all-epic-fails/?singlepage=true>.
It will go up here at BizzyBlog on Saturday morning
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/26/more-money-spent-less-value-delivered/?preview=true> (link
won't work until then) after the blackout expires.
_______________________________________________
*Related:* The ink is barely dry on the ObamaCare monstrosity, and
already the president is trying to impose price controls
<http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/23/facing-health-insurance-premium-hikes-obama-administration-eyes-price-controls/> (HT Hot
Air
<http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/23/obama-administration-eyeing-price-controls-in-health-insurance/>),
with an Objectively Unfit Mitt Romney
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2007/12/06/the-ny-timess-accidental-journalism-reveals-the-romney-same-sex-marriage-deception/> echo
--
In a shot across the bow to the insurance industry Tuesday,
President Obama warned companies facing higher costs in part because
of his health care law not to hike their prices, saying "we'll be
watching closely."
Backing up his rhetoric behind the scenes, the Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) is quietly working on a new regulation to
determine when insurance price increases are "unreasonable" and
potentially prohibited by law.
The move may provide political cover heading into November's
elections as the President tries to keep the public from linking
recent premium hikes to his newly-passed health care law.
*But critics warn price controls could lead to either rationing or
insurance companies going out of business, and point to
Massachusetts's experience with insurance price controls as a
cautionary tale of what happens when pricing "turns political."*
The "experience" in Massachusetts is this
<http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2010/April/07/Mass-Rates.aspx?print=1>,
from April 7:
An ongoing showdown between Massachusetts regulators and the
insurance industry resulted in insurers temporarily closing plans to
new enrollees Tuesday.
The Boston Globe
<http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/04/07/mass_health_insurers_halt_new_coverage_offers/>:
"The standoff between Massachusetts regulators and health insurance
companies intensified yesterday, as most insurers stopped offering
new coverage to small businesses and individuals, and state
officials demanded that the insurers post updated rates online and
resume offering policies by Friday." Insurers said they were waiting
"until a judge rules on their request for an injunction to prevent
the state from continuing to block increases for the coverage period
that started April 1. ... The confusion --- or market chaos, as one
insurance industry official called it --- followed the state
Division of Insurance's rejection last week of 235 of 274 premium
increases proposed by insurers." The proposed increases were for
policies geared toward the small group market, which encompasses
more than 800,000 people in the state of Massachusetts (Weisman, 4/7).
Boston Herald
<http://www.bostonherald.com/business/healthcare/view.bg?articleid=1245251>:
Consequently, "Bay State residents looking for health insurance were
stuck in limbo yesterday as a dispute over premiums led the state to
stop directing potential customers to insurers." The state's Web
site, a one-stop market for health insurance, included only one
choice for customers on Tuesday, a firm called CeltiCare that did
not join the lawsuit. The Web site said the firms will return to the
exchange once they reset their rates (McConville, 4/7).
Now, let's see what happened
<http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2010/04/judge_denies_in.html> on
April 12, and wait for the punch line:
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Neel today denied a request
by six health insurers to allow them to implement double-digit
premium rate increases for tens of thousands of small businesses and
individuals.
Neel's decision not to grant an injunction sought by the insurers
means the state Division of Insurance's rejection of 235 proposed
rate hikes stands for now.
... Filing the suit were Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Massachusetts, the state's largest health insurer, and the five
commercial members of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans:
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan, Fallon Community
Health Plan, Health New England, and Neighborhood Health Plan. *All
are nonprofit carriers.*
So plans that aren't even designed to make a profit can't price their
services at a level that in their judgment will enable them to just
break even. Of course many insurers have ended up restricting access to
their plans, or just quitting the state altogether, as the bolded
paragraph in the first excerpt above indicates.
That's what's happening with RomneyCare. It's what ObamaCare is
promising, in rush mode.
Thanks, Mitt.
___________________________________________
*UPDATE:* This early June story
<http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/06/05/state_reaches_rate_increase_deal_with_neighborhood_health/> indicates
that the dispute is ongoing with several of the insurers is ongoing, and
of course very political.
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