Thursday, October 14, 2010

US price controls

The New York Times relays some of the latest directives from Gosplan the Obama Administration:
The Obama administration, aiming to encourage health insurance companies to offer child-only policies, said Wednesday that they could charge higher premiums for coverage of children with serious medical problems, if state law allowed it.

...Insurers “can adjust their rates based on health status until 2014, to the extent state law allows,” said Jay Angoff, director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Think about that: companies, that are not part of a monopoly mind you, must look to the government for permission to set their own prices. And this is taking place in what is allegedly the world's greatest bastion of free market capitalism.

In addition, check out this statement from HHS Kommissar Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:
“Nothing in the Affordable Care Act, or any other existing federal law, allows us to require insurance companies to offer a particular type of policy at this time.”
Those last three words really indicate the statement's tone -- the disappointment is palpable.

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