CEI Today: Inferior Obamacare plans, life insurance under Dodd-Frank, and COP-19

Today in the News

OBAMACARE – HANS BADER

Openmarket.org: Under Obamacare, People Pay More for Inferior Health Plans, Lose Health Insurance They Liked

President Obama has recently acted as if the millions of cancellations were a surprise to him, but that is not the case. Iindeed, the Department of Health and Human Services has long projected in the Federal Register that its narrow interpretation of the Affordable Care Act’s grandfather clause would eliminate a substantial fraction of America’s existing health plans. 

 

DODD-FRANK – IAIN MURRAY

Providence Journal: Labyrinthine law threatens our life insurance now

Dodd-Frank, the law more properly known as the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was intended to stabilize the financial system and end the problem of “Too Big to Fail” banks.

Now, however, non-bank financial institutions that were never part of the problem are getting caught up in Dodd-Frank’s labyrinthine bureaucracy as government overreaches its powers.

For the life insurance industry, this could cause significant problems. If Dodd-Frank is not reformed, all of us who purchase life insurance are bound to see fewer products, with higher premiums and lower benefits likely, according to one independent study. 

 

INT’L BUREAUCRATS TALK GLOBAL WARMING – MARLO LEWIS

Globalwarming.org: COP-19 Starts in Warsaw on November 11

What happens when international bureaucrats meet to talk about global warming? The nineteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-19) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change begins in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday, 11th November.

Assuming procedural squabbles don’t take up the whole two weeks, three of the main issues that could be considered are flexibility, inclusivity, and payoffs. The Kyoto Protocol is a set of mandatory emissions reductions targets and timetables that were initially applied to 37 developed countries. The United States never ratified Kyoto, and Canada withdrew last year.