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.”

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Debbie Young
Debbie, our chief political writer of Richardcyoung.com, is also our chief domestic affairs writer, a contributing writer on Eastern Europe and Paris and Burgundy, France. She has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over five decades. Debbie lives in Key West, Florida, and Newport, Rhode Island, and travels extensively in Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga. Debbie has completed the 200-hour Krama Yoga teacher training program taught by Master Instructor Ruslan Kleytman. Debbie is a strong supporting member of the NRA.