ObamaCare was billed as a means for expanding options and reducing costs for health care consumers and small businesses. Of course, economics tell us that the exact opposite occurs when government imposes more taxes, inflicts more mandates and regulations, and funds a bigger share of health care.
And as costs get driven higher, rather than fixing the real problem, government makes matters even worse by imposing price controls.
Well, it did not take long for the process to start, as reported in the April 21 New York Times:
Fearing that health insurance premiums may shoot up in the next few years, Senate Democrats laid a foundation on Tuesday for federal regulation of rates, four weeks after President Obama signed a law intended to rein in soaring health costs.
After a hearing on the issue, the chairman of the Senate health committee, Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, said he intended to move this year on legislation that would “provide an important check on unjustified premiums.”
Mr. Harkin praised a bill introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, that would give the secretary of health and human services the power to review premiums and block “any rate increase found to be unreasonable.” Under the bill, the federal government could regulate rates in states where state officials did not have “sufficient authority and capability” to do so.
The White House offered a similar proposal in the weeks leading up to approval of the health care legislation last month.
And the government noose tightens on private health care.
Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
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