Inevitability of liberal policies: Massachusetts imposes price controls on health insurance.
This was predicted a long time ago and it has finally arrived. Looks like the costs of universal coverage is starting to take it's toll as health care costs spiral out of control. In this piece, we learn of the havoc caused by RomneyCare as insurance premium hikes are being rejected by a bureaucrat! Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy decided that he is much smarter than everyone else and rejected 235 of the 274 proposed increases.
See, what is happening in our little liberal heaven of Massachusetts is a perfect example of what NOT TO DO. Unfortunately for the rest of the country, Obama/Pelosi/Reid-Care largely modeled after RomneyCare is now law of the land. Thomas Jefferson once expressed an idea that each state act as a social laboratory for experimentation and from these experiments we could conclude on the best form of governing. But in 2010, where white is black and up is down, Massachusetts is an example of success - not the blatant failure that it really is.
Who would have thunk it!? Shoving millions of people, whether they want or not to, into the health care pool at below market costs, has caused runaway medical inflation? Impossible, this sounds like a vast capitalist conspiracy designed to besmirch our first black governor's good name. This can't actually be simple economics at work, can it?
Yes, it can. Insurance companies after being turned into the giant monsters that they are(see HMO Act of 1973) have really no place to turn other than the obvious increase in premiums. This price in premium is a signal that something is wrong and is supposed to act as a message to the consumer. Of course most consumers are subsidized by the either the state, or federal employer matches or both and could really care less. Still, these increases technically should change consumer behavior, I say technically, because a lot of the true information is being lost by a thick layer of government goop. Once consumer behavior changes people will either switch to plans with lower premiums or maybe drop insurance all together (and just pay the morally reprehensible fine). This in turn should lower consumption and temper the price increases. *should*
But it will not, because social engineering liberals are at the helm and will act in irrational ways despite warnings:
Very simple. Shortages. As a bunch of bloated do-gooders wreck the price structure beyond the point of repair, insurance companies will stop covering procedures. It will happen slowly and randomly, but comprehensive plans that cost thousands of dollars will continue to cost thousands of dollars, but cover less and less. Sadly, underlying medical costs will continue to rise and those needing care will have no alternatives. Ultimately the path for comprehensive coverage will not be a panacea after all, but in reality a path toward rationing. Liberals will have succeeded in insuring everyone, but it will dawn on them many years later that full insurance is only a theory.
Americans will find it more difficult to get expensive procedures and there will be no escape. Worst yet, is that unlike premium hikes shortages and rationing does not vividly manifest itself. So while we can now observe that price controls are being implemented due to government created price spirals, shortages will scurry under the radar. Certain procedures and tests will stop being performed and consumption will drop, but not out of necessity, out of the inability to acquire them. Ultimately, Americans WILL be spending less on health care, but not by choice and the vision of our ruling elite will come to fruition.
See, what is happening in our little liberal heaven of Massachusetts is a perfect example of what NOT TO DO. Unfortunately for the rest of the country, Obama/Pelosi/Reid-Care largely modeled after RomneyCare is now law of the land. Thomas Jefferson once expressed an idea that each state act as a social laboratory for experimentation and from these experiments we could conclude on the best form of governing. But in 2010, where white is black and up is down, Massachusetts is an example of success - not the blatant failure that it really is.
Who would have thunk it!? Shoving millions of people, whether they want or not to, into the health care pool at below market costs, has caused runaway medical inflation? Impossible, this sounds like a vast capitalist conspiracy designed to besmirch our first black governor's good name. This can't actually be simple economics at work, can it?
Yes, it can. Insurance companies after being turned into the giant monsters that they are(see HMO Act of 1973) have really no place to turn other than the obvious increase in premiums. This price in premium is a signal that something is wrong and is supposed to act as a message to the consumer. Of course most consumers are subsidized by the either the state, or federal employer matches or both and could really care less. Still, these increases technically should change consumer behavior, I say technically, because a lot of the true information is being lost by a thick layer of government goop. Once consumer behavior changes people will either switch to plans with lower premiums or maybe drop insurance all together (and just pay the morally reprehensible fine). This in turn should lower consumption and temper the price increases. *should*
But it will not, because social engineering liberals are at the helm and will act in irrational ways despite warnings:
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state's largest private insurer, said in a statement: "We share concerns about the current rate of premium increases, but arbitrary government price controls will not solve the problem and will likely cause unintended harmful consequences."Arbitrary indeed, this is how all central planning works. At this point anyone living in Massachusetts should be outraged and livid at what is happening to this state and those outside of Massachusetts need to realize that this is the road-map for ObamaCare. So what is coming next?
Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which represents insurers, health care providers and an array of area businesses, termed the action "arbitrary and capricious."
Very simple. Shortages. As a bunch of bloated do-gooders wreck the price structure beyond the point of repair, insurance companies will stop covering procedures. It will happen slowly and randomly, but comprehensive plans that cost thousands of dollars will continue to cost thousands of dollars, but cover less and less. Sadly, underlying medical costs will continue to rise and those needing care will have no alternatives. Ultimately the path for comprehensive coverage will not be a panacea after all, but in reality a path toward rationing. Liberals will have succeeded in insuring everyone, but it will dawn on them many years later that full insurance is only a theory.
Americans will find it more difficult to get expensive procedures and there will be no escape. Worst yet, is that unlike premium hikes shortages and rationing does not vividly manifest itself. So while we can now observe that price controls are being implemented due to government created price spirals, shortages will scurry under the radar. Certain procedures and tests will stop being performed and consumption will drop, but not out of necessity, out of the inability to acquire them. Ultimately, Americans WILL be spending less on health care, but not by choice and the vision of our ruling elite will come to fruition.
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