This will come as no surprise to the RTP audience, but the Wall Street Journal is reporting on how we’re already seeing the beginnings of ObamaCare’s forcing the retraction of health care options for patients:
The health-reform law caps how much insurers can spend on expenses and take for profits. Starting next year, health plans will have a regulated “floor” on their medical-loss ratios, which is the amount of revenue they spend on medical claims. Insurers can only spend 20% of their premiums on running their plans if they offer policies directly to consumers or to small employers. The spending cap is 15% for policies sold to large employers.
This regulation is going to have its biggest impact on insurance sold directly to consumers—what’s referred to as the “individual market.” These policies cost more to market. They also have higher medical costs, owing partly to selection by less healthy consumers.
Finally, individual policies have high start-up costs. If insurers cannot spend more of their revenue getting plans on track, fewer new policies will be offered.
But didn’t the President assure us we’d all be able to keep our plans? Check off another broken promise. Again, no surprise to us. Also, no surprise is that as more information and analysis of this bill is provided – which, of course, should have been done before its passage – support continues to drop:
Americans remain divided on health reform, with 41 percent holding favorable views of the law, 44 percent holding unfavorable views and 14 percent undecided or unsure. Most Democrats still approve of it and most Republicans still oppose it. Political independents are more likely to tilt against, as are people who describe themselves as likely voters in the midterm elections.
This comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation, whose same poll showed last month a 46/40 split in support of the bill. This was basically the one reputable poll that the Left could point to for support, while the others show clear majorities against. But now even it has shifted a full nine points in the other direction, putting ObamaCare underwater and indicating an overall trend in the negative direction.
A simple word comes to mind: Repeal! Yet there still is no serious effort underway to trash this horrible legislation Americans have rejected. Contact your representatives and tell them that either they sign on to repeal the bill, or you will repeal their employment.
