Let's thank the insurance lobby. Two weeks ago they were getting almost exactly what they wanted -- millions of new mandatory customers, the ability to keep the 17 million least profitable (i.e. most needing insurance) Americans out of the market, no serious public alternative, and of course no Single Payer.
But then they got even greedier and tipped their hand. They openly warned they'd raise rates on customers, hoping to get one more concession: heftier fines on healthy young people who don't get insurance! If they'd just kept their greedy mouths shut for a couple more weeks, they could have raised any rate they want and our leaders and Congress would, as always, explain they're powerless to stop them. That's where the spin is wrong: the insurance companies' assessment that they expect rates to go up wasn't a scare tactic - it's the plan. But it wasn't supposed to be public. Now Congress is suddenly in the unexpected position of standing up for us. Christmas in October!
This looks an almost accidental version of oversight. The insurance lobby is in trouble for telling us all what they plan to do. The Congress and White House didn't want to educate you about the anti-trust rules until their partner went public and reneged on a deal.
The health care insurance deal is much like the deal the banks got. There's no limit to the premiums they can charge. If insurance companies want to double all their premiums to sustain their 2009 profit levels, there's nothing in the Health Care Reform bill to stop them. And, because of the legacy anti-trust rule, they can even plan the price fixing openly, on the phone or in email, or in a public report to Congress, and insist they're not breaking the law. It's actually their obligation to their stockholders to do that, as The Yes Men might explain.
It's nice to see leaders in Congress taking our side for once. Then again, would anti-trust changes make any difference? There's still no limit on premiums or interest rates, no foreign medicines allowed, and no single payer. And as with finance, no actual resources to enforce anti-trust laws.
Anyone think Obama planned this turnaround? Is he the Rocky Balboa / Will Smith (Men In Black edition) of negotiation - so good at taking it, at giving his corporate lobbyists Industry Stakeholders what they want, that eventually they'll underestimate him?