• Understand that in this system of commercial, for-profit insurance, the carriers will have the last word, despite all the huffing and puffing by politicos and advocacy groups like HCAN, which has called for a nationwide review of WellPoint’s rates. If they can’t get the increases they expect and say they need, they will compensate in other ways—by designing policies that cover very little, or shifting more cost to policyholders through sky-high deductibles. In Maine, some already reach $15,000. Those actions could hurt policyholders even more. Ultimately, they can stop selling policies in states with unfriendly rate regulation.
In his weekly roundup for Oppenheimer & Co., Carl McDonald speculated: “If WellPoint isn’t granted something close to the rate increase they are requesting, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the company exit the individual market in the state. Doing so would send a message to state regulators across the country that they can only go so far in limiting plan rate increases before plans are no longer willing to remain in the market.”
So goes Maine.
We're committed to the private insurance model, and we have to keep coughing up the bucks, even if it kills us all.
They have this country over a barrel, your money or your life.
Democratic, Republican, they both agree. Siingle payer public healthcare just isn't a money maker. It saves too much. Who can get the pork? Where is the profit in it? How can we force people to vote for us?
The whole point of being a politician is in promising to solve problems and awarding pork. If you solve the biggest problem, then you have to move on to the next one.
Healthcare is the Democrats most reliable vote getter.
Its all about them.
#1 Posted by brent, CJR on Mon 10 May 2010 at 11:36 PM