The most remarkable exchange during Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s House testimony on Healthcare.gov Wednesday came when Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) implied that insurance companies were trying to ‘force’ consumers who lost their plans due to Obamacare to remain with them — as if it’s Obamacare that isn’t ‘forcing’ Americans to do anything at all.
Talk about irony.
“Does the ACA require insurance companies to discontinue plans that people had when the law was passed?” Dingell began. This was a reference to people being allowed to stay on their plans only if they were already on them in March 2010.
After Sebelius explained this ‘grandfather clause,’ Dingell continued, “So if an insurance company is no longer offering a plan, that’s because that insurance company made a decision to change their policies?” After Sebelius conceded it was, Dingell added, “I want you to submit for the record a statement of what it is we can do about insurance companies that run around canceling the policies of their people. I want to get a very clear statement from you as to what you can do so we can take some skin off some folks that have it coming.”
Dingell’s statement was made half-jokingly. But it inadvertently revealed his view that private insurance companies that change their plans from time to time do so willy-nilly out of a desire to squeeze a few more pennies out of their customers. In his view, insurance executives don’t review their policy options and determine how to meet the needs of an ever-shifting consumer base. No, they’re callous power-brokers who make capricious decisions to maximize personal gain, knowing that customers are stuck and that they’re shielded from going out of business.
Wait — doesn’t that describe the role of government under Obamacare?
It’s Obamacare that’s forcing individuals to obtain coverage that meets strict protections consumers may not wish to pay for, given their youth and risk tolerance. And it’s the federal government and its regulatory agencies that are shielded from going out of “business.” If a private company oversaw the disastrous website rollout the Department of Health and Human Services inflicted on the nation during October, they’d be shuttered by Halloween.
Regarding Americans being dropped by their insurance companies, Dingell asked, “In the cancellation letters … some insurance companies are suggesting an alternative plan at a higher price. Do they have the right to do that?”
“They have a right to do that, sir, but consumers have a right to shop anywhere, to compare plans, and they have choices now that they’ve never had before,” Sebelius replied.
“And they have no right to enforce that demand on the insurance purchaser?”
After Sebelius stated the obvious — that of course insurance companies can’t just forcibly ‘roll over’ consumers into new plans — Dingell let his true colors show.
“Looks to me like the insurance companies are trying to inflict on their customers the view that this is their right and this is the only option available to them, is that correct?”
This is a stunning question and reflects Dingell’s feverish fantasy of private insurance companies roping in customers and forcing them to switch to more expensive plans. Again, isn’t that exactly what Obamacare does?
The way liberals see it, in a free-market system, insurance companies have the capacity to hold enrollees hostage and require them to stay in bad plans with high premiums. But when government steps in and forces both sides to agree to terms they wouldn’t otherwise have chosen, that’s a truly free system.
Could Democrats’ conception of private markets and government regulations be any more backward?
