HHS Deems Rate Hikes Excessive in Nine States

From Michael P. Tremoglie’s article on Legal Newsline:

But the issue of the government telling insurers how much premiums should be is a controversial one. Hans Bader is with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to advocating a free market. He was critical of Sebelius’ comments.

“Average profit margins in the health insurance industry are just too low for price caps to provide any meaningful relief to consumers,” he said. “Instead, price ceilings – or pressure not to raise insurance rates to cover rising healthcare costs – will likely lead to fewer insurers in the insurance market, fewer choices for consumers, and more people unable to obtain private insurance.”

Other insurers are getting out of the market already, Bader said. He noted that Principal Financial, which insures about 840,000 through its employer-based health insurance plans, said it would stop selling health insurance.