A New Belief in the Sanctity of Insurance Companies

President Barack Obama at a meeting with insurance company executives March 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Some markets need destabilizing. One in particular is the ObamaCare exchange. According to the WSJ, in about half the counties in the U.S., there is no competition for individual insurance—only highly regulated insurers.

To woo and keep insurers, state officials spent months negotiating, and in many cases they are approving substantial rate increases for next year that include extra boosts to insulate insurers from uncertainty about how the law will be administered.

Roughly half the counties in the U.S. have no competition for individual insurance–just one highly regulated insurer. This situation has obvious appeal for both big business and big government, but achieving stability has come at quite a cost.

The Journal’s two examples:

• Mississippi—one exchange insurer was set to get a rate increase of a 47.4% on average Kentucky
• Kentucky—Anthem’s rates will go up 41.2% and CareSource (nonprofit) rates will rise by 56%.

Of President Trump’s power of the pen with his executive order, Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, maintains, “It has the potential to be very disruptive.”

Amen to that, Brother Yarmuth. As the Journal points out, “Patients and taxpayers need reform that is very disruptive.”