When Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick rejected the premium increases by the state's health care insurers, the insurers sued in Boston superior court arguing that the arbitrary rate cap will cost them $100 million in losses this year and prevent them from making good on anticipated claims. And while their case is pending they've 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.
What's a lefty governor to do? How do you make a case for corporate profiteering when the major Massachusetts insurers are nonprofits, three which posted operating losses in 2009.
The sadder commentary is that the Massachusetts Attorney General and state insurance regulators were actually surprised to learn that their highest-in-the-nation premiums are due to "the underlying cost of health care, not the supposed industry abuse." They should have known.
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