Pressure rising on healthcare long before overhaul takes effect

[red states rule]

I am not the kind of person to tell you I told you so - but I told you so

And so did alot of other people who saw thru this scam





Reporting from Washington — Despite passage of the landmark healthcare overhaul this spring, the nation's existing health system is continuing to fray, raising the prospect that the country could experience a crisis before the law establishes a new safety net in 2014.

Three months after President Obama signed the law, state governments struggling with budgets savaged by the recession are contemplating further cuts in healthcare aid for the poor, despite the promise of more federal dollars.

At the same time, several million laid-off Americans and their families who have used federal assistance to hold on to health insurance will lose coverage in coming months as the special assistance program expires. Those with jobs face their own challenges as employers continue to look for ways to pare health benefits and shift more costs to employees, if not drop health coverage altogether.

And people in all walks of life face rising healthcare prices and skyrocketing insurance premiums, which in many parts of the country are rising at double-digit rates this year.

"If the economy does not improve substantially, we may be taking some steps backward before we take steps forward," said Ron Pollack, a leading supporter of the healthcare overhaul who heads the consumer group Families USA.

Obama's senior healthcare advisor acknowledged that the road ahead may be rough. "Will plans continue to raise prices? Will some people continue to lose coverage? I think the answer is yes," said Nancy-Ann DeParle, head of the White House Office of Health Reform. "It is something we are concerned about."

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/21/nation/la-na-health-crisis-20100622

[red states rule]

The NY Times leaps to the defense of Obamacre. Yea, increase the cost of healthcare, but attack the insurance companies when they raise their rates





About Those Premiums
Published: June 22, 2010

President Obama told health insurers on Tuesday not to use health care reform as an excuse to raise the cost of premiums. The warning is timely. With critics still scare-mongering about the supposed cost of reform, insurers in several states have been seeking double-digit premium increases that look hard to justify as necessary to keep up with medical inflation.

The president acknowledged that there are a lot of factors driving up the cost of care. The health insurers have certainly perpetrated a lot of abuses over the years. But at least when it comes to who is responsible for relentlessly rising health care costs, that falls more on the hospitals, doctors and other providers who charge high prices and deliver more services than are medically necessary, and on the drug- and device-makers who push their most expensive products.

Even so, it will be important to monitor insurance rate increases carefully. And the Obama administration must be prepared to push hard. Unfortunately, the reform law did not give the federal government the power to regulate premiums. It did provide some weaker tools to help keep insurance costs down: new rules requiring companies to publicly identify the reasons for unreasonable rate increases; new exchanges where insurers will have to compete for business; and a new office and grant program to help state regulators evaluate and contest proposed rate increases.

The president also unveiled new regulations effective this year that should end some of the insurance companies’ worst practices, such as rescinding policies for frivolous reasons after a person becomes sick; he thanked the industry for dropping this tactic earlier than required. He listed a number of other benefits that consumers will see soon, including a ban on lifetime coverage limits.

Mr. Obama vowed to defend the new law against Republican efforts to repeal or weaken it. He still needs to ignite strong popular support for reforms that could transform the American health care system. Requiring insurers to play fair is part of that effort.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/opinion/23wed3.html?ref=opinion