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That "Universal" HealthKare as it is working in Massachusetts comingto all Americans nationally under ObamaKare RSN



 
 
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Old April 11th, 2010, 11:51 AM posted to alt.activism.death-penalty,uk.politics.misc,aus.politics,soc.retirement,rec.travel.europe
Tis Odonovan, Himself
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Default That "Universal" HealthKare as it is working in Massachusetts comingto all Americans nationally under ObamaKare RSN

That "Universal" HealthKare as it is working in Massachusetts coming
to all Americans nationally under ObamaKare RSN

April 9, 2010

"This week it became impossible in Massachusetts for small businesses
and individuals to buy health-care coverage after Governor Deval
Patrick imposed price controls on premiums. Read on, because under
ObamaCare this kind of political showdown will soon be coming to an
insurance market near you.

The Massachusetts small-group market that serves about 800,000
residents shut down after Mr. Patrick kicked off his re-election
campaign by presumptively rejecting about 90% of the premium increases
the state's insurers had asked regulators to approve. Health costs
have run off the rails since former GOP Governor Mitt Romney and
Beacon Hill passed universal coverage in 2006, and Mr. Patrick now
claims price controls are the sensible response to this ostensibly
industry greed.

Yet all of the major Massachusetts insurers are nonprofits. Three of
largest four—Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tufts Health Plan and Fallon
Community Health—posted operating losses in 2009.

In an emergency suit heard in Boston superior court yesterday, they
argued that the arbitrary rate cap will result in another $100 million
in collective losses this year and make it impossible to pay the
anticipated cost of claims. It may even threaten the near-term
solvency of some companies. So until the matter is resolved, the
insurers have simply stopped selling new policies.

A court decision is expected by Monday, but state officials have
demanded that the insurers—under the threat of fines and other
regulatory punishments—resume offering quotes by today and to revert
to year-old base premiums. Let that one sink in: Mr. Patrick has made
the health insurance business so painful the government actually has
to order private companies to sell their products (albeit at sub-
market costs).

One irony is that Mr. Patrick's own Attorney General and his insurance
regulators have concluded—to their apparent surprise—that the reason
Massachusetts premiums are the highest in the nation is the underlying
cost of health care, not the supposed industry abuses that Mr. Patrick
and his political mentor President Obama like to cite.

On top of that, like ObamaCare, integral to the Massachusetts overhaul
are mandates that require insurers to cover anyone who applies
regardless of health status or pre-existing conditions and to charge
everyone about the same rates. This allows people to wait until
they're about to incur major medical expenses before buying insurance
and transfer the costs to everyone else. This week Blue Cross Blue
Shield reported a big uptick in short-term customers who ran up costs
more than four times the average, only to drop the coverage within
three months.

Last July, Charlie Baker detailed similar gaming at Harvard Pilgrim,
the health plan he used to run. Between April 2008 and March 2009,
about 40% of its new enrollees stayed with it for fewer than five
months and on average incurred costs about 600% higher than the
company would have otherwise expected.

Mr. Baker is almost certain to be Mr. Patrick's GOP opponent in the
fall election. The Governor's lurch toward price controls is obviously
part of a bid to tar the former CEO as an industry villain. David
Plouffe, the architect of Mr. Obama's Presidential campaign, has
signed on as a Patrick 2010 consultant. These kinds of collisions
between politics and health care are going to occur constantly across
the country as ObamaCare kicks in."

source:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/101c4zEvleths

HeckUva Job Barry!
 




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