Massachusetts state regulators have instituted price controls on health insurance, by blocking proposed rate increases by carriers. The insurers are currently waiting for an injunction from the court. They state that caps are justified only if health care providers are to receive the same treatment; as of now, no one looking for a new policy can buy or get a quote.
“We’re in limbo until the issue gets resolved,’’ said Lora Pellegrini, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, a trade group representing most of the state’s insurance companies. “There are no approved rates in the market right now. You’re seeing the first sign of the kind of market chaos we were worried about.’’
This being an election year, Governor Deval Patrick is using the proposed rate increases as a wedge issue against his republican opponent Charles Barker. Barker is a former president of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy rejected 235 of 274 rate increases by the industry. Harvard Pilgrim had 25 out of 26 that met the same fate.
Barack Obama and his fellow democrats used Massachusetts as the premier model for the nation. The way it looks, if Deval Patrick and his cronies get their way, private insurance companies will be driven out of the state; and with Obamacare coming down the pike we could witness the extinction of the industry as a whole.
People bemoan the “injustice” of insurance companies. It is state and federal regulations that are driving up the cost. But for some reason people look upon these politicians and bureaucrats as our saviors, when in fact they are the ones who are putting the yoke around our necks
Source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100401/ap_on_bi_ge/ma_premium_cap
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/04/07/mass_health_insurers_halt_new_coverage_offers/?page=2
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