Friday, April 09, 2010


Chaos in the Massachusetts Health Care Market
Want a preview of ObamaCare in action? Check out the Massachusetts insurance market—which earlier this week entered a state of "market chaos" after Governor Deval Patrick denied a host of health insurance rate increases.

On Tuesday, the state's individual insurance market effectively shut down as insurers refused to comply with the state's rejection of 235 of 274 proposed health insurance rate increases.

The dispute has already put the two sides in court. Insurance companies are now claiming that the rejected rate increases mean they won't be able to operate at a profit, and arguing that no actuary would approve the sort of rates that state insurance regulators say they expect. Actuary sign-off is not only important for fiscal stability—it's a legal requirement in the state....