There's a new report from the Pew Center on the States, that health insurance premiums are continuing their inexorable upward spiral despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
In fact, insurance premiums nationally have gone up more than 16 percent since the law was enacted a little more than a year ago. In some parts of the country, increases have been as much as 30 percent.
. . .The Affordable Care Act actually gives the federal government little power to guarantee that health insurance is affordable. Instead, the job is left up to states. But for the most part, they aren’t doing it. Almost half of them lack legal authority to reject an insurance company’s rates, and many that have the authority fail to use it.
To deny the obvious is lunacy, despite the fact that some around here think this subject is verboten. Americans are continuing to lose their insurance and their access to health care. This is reality.
So given this report, it's particularly demoralizing to see what happened in Connecticut and what could be on the verge of happeningin California with AB 52. We still are not sure whether the California State Senate health committee will send this bill to the floor of the Senate for an up or down vote, personally, I'm not optimistic.
Governor Dan Malloy is the latest jackass to cave to the insurance industry. What makes his cave so noteworthy is that he's a democrat. The 'democratic' governor of Connecticut. He's taking well deserved heat for doing the bidding of the insurance industry. Malloy and those of his ilk, need to be held accountable. I don't live in Connecticut, I don't know if Malloy is a Blue Dog, I do know, the veto was a huge gift to the insurance industry, and something they wanted very much.
Yes, of course, Connecticut is owned by the insurance industry--but it's interesting to note that Malloy vetoed the rate review bill late on Friday night, under cover of darkness, right before the July 4th weekend. This bill would have established a public review process since the insurance commissioner isn't doing a good job controlling the price gouging. And who woulda thought? Malloy's new insurance commissioner Thomas B. Leonardi, stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposition to this billwith Governor Malloy.
The governor's veto letter is striking because he cites the $181,000 cost to implement this public review, despite the fact that Section 2794, of the ACA has funding grants earmarked for the states to implement a robust rate review process.
Starting September 1st, HHSwill have the authority to review premium increases in excess of 10%, but virtually no ability to stop them. The ACA stops very short of giving federal
regulators the power to block increases. The proposed regulations do not, as a practical matter, present a material impediment to proposed rate increases on health insurance policies. You continue to be at the mercy of the insurance industry.
So here we are with over 50 million uninsured. Is the ACA better than nothing, yes indeed, it's better than nothing.
But what a mistake to slap a happy face on legislation which is not making health care affordable.