Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Massachusetts Insurers sue to block rate hike decision

Follow up to one of my stories and the continuing coverage of one state's dealing with universal health and how Obamacare will work when the whole country is forced to have health insurance.

from the Lowell Sun:

BOSTON (AP) -- The state's top health insurers are filing a lawsuit contesting a decision by state regulators to reject the vast majority of small business premium increases they sought this year.
Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy said last week he rejected 235 of 274 proposed rate increases because they included "excessive increases and rates unreasonable relative to the benefits provided."
The insurers say Murphy's decision will end up creating greater costs and more confusion in the marketplace.
Eric Linzer, spokesman for the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, called the state's effort to artificially cap rates "a reckless decision that is based in politics and will wreak havoc on the entire health care system."
Linzer said the move could also undermine the state's landmark 2006 health care law.

2 comments:

  1. To me, the Massachusetts decision to provide universal healthcare within the state is fine -- if that's what voters in Mass. want. When it extends to the nation (nationalizing/socializing) healthcare without the approval of the voters of each individual state, I have a big problem with it.

    At least you have SOME recourse within your state to deal with incompetence and corruption within the system. At the federal level, we're truly powerless to break what has become a political mafia.

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  2. Agre with LL. The Tenth Amendment is at play here, and what is right for MA is not right for US.

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