In what can be only be described as a great day for America, President Barack Obama woke up to a great idea. I guess it occurred over several days, but because his health care reform legislation has stalled like a Mexican car in the summertime, Barack’s amaing idea is to give the federal government the authority to block health insurance companies from increasing premiums.
This is ridiculous of course, as health insurance companies, though indeed scum of the earth, are not to blame for this health care crises. They are not the ones increasing medical costs, they are reacting to it. They are not the ones that have been suffering from the financial woes caused by Wall Street excesses and firing or laying off entire cities. They are in fact, a symptom of this financial distress.
After Blue Cross Blue Shield of California has been trying to get through a 40% increase (though as we said, they would still be the most affordable plan in California despite this massive increase) Obama used them as a scapegoat for this crises.
Though if he wants to point fingers, perhaps he can start by looking at the massive waste of Medicare and Medicaid or perhaps the lawyer vultures that have caused malpractice rates to become untenable.
The president plans to include a program to have the criminal Federal Reserve regulate insurance rates, which sounds like a great idea, considering their success in regulating Wall Street and our fiscal situation.
The president will unveil the ridiculous plan today in advance of what is sure to become the silliest summit ever on Thursday part of the supposed bipartisan health care summit.
This is another case of assigning blame incorrectly. The insurance company financial statements include the same profit percentages which are fixed and not allowed to exceed a certain percent. When an insurance company earns a profit it is because their claims percent was lower then their premiums. This number is not allowed by law to be above a reasonable number.
The plan is to have this new proposal be encompassed in a bridged version of the Senate and House bills that were passed late last year. This premium control is likely to be opposed by Republicans who are right about this but for the wrong reason, they believe or are at least using the excuse that it would give too much power to the federal government. But in fact it is because the insurance companies are some of their largest donors.
The Democratic health bills already envision some role for the government to control premium costs, through new exchanges where individuals and small businesses could buy insurance. One version would prevent any insurer that raised rates beyond a level that the government deemed unfair from selling policies in the exchange.
Private insurance companies are now regulated by the states, which review proposed rate increases. Under the Obama proposal, the federal Department of Health and Human Services would gain the power to review and block premium increases.
A new seven-member Health Insurance Rate Authority, made up of industry experts, consumer representatives, a physician and others, would issue an annual report laying out what it viewed as reasonable rate increases. Those considered unjustified could be blocked by a federal board. Customers might even qualify for rebates.
Senator Mitch McConnel continues to request that these bills be scraped due to a lack of support from America.
