Obama to Insurers: Don't Even Think About It

[quiet.american]

NYT: As Law Takes Effect, Obama Gives Insurers a Warning
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/health/policy/22health.html?hp

WASHINGTON — President Obama, whose vilification of insurers ("vilification"? - really? Gee, I can't think of any reason why insurance companies may have been despised before Obama "vilified" them!) helped push a landmark health care overhaul through Congress, plans to sternly warn industry executives at a White House meeting on Tuesday against imposing hefty rate increases in anticipation of tightening regulation under the new law, administration officials said Monday....

“Our message to them is to work with this law, not against it; don’t try and take advantage of it or we will work with state authorities and gather the authority we have to stop rate gouging,” David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “Our concern is that they not try and, under the cover of the act, get in under the wire here on rate increases.”

The law does not grant the federal government new authority to regulate health care premiums, which remains the province of state insurance departments. But with important provisions taking effect this summer and fall, the Obama administration has repeatedly reminded insurers — and the public — that it will expose industry pricing to what the health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, has called a “bright spotlight.”

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GOBAMA, go! While the sniping goes on and on, Obama just sets about getting the thing done. I'm just so proud of this guy.

[jaxx]

1. Ha! I liked this.

Don't even go there, he's got their number. That ought to make the ins co's cry.

[Arkana]

2. This is good, but do we have any actual legal protections in place

in case they DO step over the line?

Otherwise, they're really pissing into the wind.

[quiet.american]

3. Well -- they've already had some success in rolling back rate hikes, so they've got something.

There are some passages pertaining to this in the final legislation, I believe one of the sections is Sec 2701 -- but long story short, if these insurance companies don't "play nice," they will be barred from participating in the Exchanges, and that seems to be a powerful incentive so far for them to step back.