This is so deceitful, and the President and his advisers know it. Larry Summers ought to be ashamed to have this kind of rhetoric being used for purely political purposes.
Insurance companies are not the reason for the rising cost of health insurance any more than the local grocery store is the reason for the high price of orange juice after a freeze in Florida.
Folks might want to explore the situation in Massachusetts, a state that passed a mandatory health insurance law a few years back. The Boston Globe reports today about health insurance price increases in that state that range from 8 to 32 percent (in the text, one individual reports an increase of 40%). The Globe even notes that
Even as businesses and individuals feel the pinch of surging health costs, three of the four largest state health insurers last week posted financial reports showing operating losses for 2009.It appears that consumers in Massachusetts got a gift last year from their rapacious insurance companies -- health insurance at below cost prices. That, of course, cannot continue.
Even more scary about all this is that the spectre of price controls has risen. The Administration added language to their insurance proposal that would allow the Federal government to review price increases by insurance companies. Massachusetts is reviewing all increases that exceed 4.8%. Real price controls are not far behind.
I suggest that if Obama cannot get a straight answer from the insurance company CEOs he listen a bit more carefully, with an open mind. Or maybe he can start by reading the several page letter that Wellpoint put out after the Californica fiasco (linked to in one of my earlier posts on the topic).
Even better, I suggest that Obama and his advisers go talk to some health care providers -- docs and hospitals -- and ask them what their price increases are. I guarantee you that they will be closer to the source of health care price inflation at the hospital than at the insurance company office.
1 comment:
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