Silly Proposal from Doug Gansler Running for Governer in MD

[Sam]

I just got an email from Doug Gansler's campaign. Bear in mind that Doug is our current AG and is genuinely a good guy. I was really saddened to hear this, because it is clear that he is getting some really bad advice.

The email says:

Dear Sam,

Passing President Obama's health care reform was no easy task, but it was definitely worth it. Because of these reforms, every American will be guaranteed access to high quality and affordable health care.

Now some insurance companies are trying to exploit Obamacare to raise your rates by up to 150%. They're undermining the President’s vision and straining Maryland families at a time when Marylanders are working harder than ever to keep up with rising bills and rising taxes.

That's why we're calling on the Maryland Insurance Commissioner to freeze any rate increase request above 5% until President Obama’s reforms have been in place for six months.

The insurance companies want to take money out of the pockets of Maryland families based on fuzzy projections. We should not allow big insurers to hike our premiums in the name of Obamacare before they even know what the costs and savings truly are.

Maryland families deserve better. We've come too far to let big insurance companies kill health care reform before it even begins.

Our office defended Obamacare in the Supreme Court, please join us in the fight to protect Obamacare on the ground.

Thanks,

Doug

This shows a remarkable lack of understanding of the basic elements of Obamacare. It essentially assumes that any rate increases are 100% due to price gouging, instead of sue to the changes that the bill made.

The 3-1 ratio will have a huge impact on prices

The lower deductible limits will have a huge impact on the prices

The no underwriting will have a huge impact on prices in the individual market (small group already has no underwriting in MD

The adverse selection of those who used to go straight to MHIP will have a huge impact on the rates

The adverse selection of those who will enroll using subsidies being primarily those with health issues will have a huge impact on the rates.

The MLR rules already force the companies to abide by small profit margins, so insurance companies wouldn't even reap the benefit, if they "price gouge"

This is very disappointing and seems to be either a cheap political trick, or more likely, bad advice from people who don't actually understand the law.

I hope Doug finds his way to the truth.

 

[Newby]

I think it would be great if Maryland really did pass a law like that. Every insurance company would have to pull out of the state.

The politicians would have to eventually figure out there can't be enormous profits if no company will do business in the state.

 

[deadhead]

And what does he do if all health products are pulled from Maryland?

 

[Yagents]

What will they do if they can't remain solvent? lay off thousands of workers? Getting medicaid is not a solution after losing a paycheck.

FL recently went the other way and signed into law, that for the next 2 years, no carrier has to get prior approval from the DOI for rate increases on NON GF policies.

 

[AllenChicago]

I just got an email from Doug Gansler's campaign. Bear in mind that Doug is our current AG and is genuinely a good guy. I was really saddened to hear this, because it is clear that he is getting some really bad advice.

"The insurance companies want to take money out of the pockets of Maryland families based on fuzzy projections. We should not allow big insurers to hike our premiums in the name of Obamacare before they even know what the costs and savings truly are."

Our office defended Obamacare in the Supreme Court, please join us in the fight to protect Obamacare on the ground.

Thanks,

Doug

So Doug is an Attorney and an all-around good guy who's running for governor. Naturally he's going to find the hottest buttons to push for his fundraising efforts. This guy isn't stupid. I bet if you dig deeper, you'll find that he is a TRUE POLITICIAN who spun the Maryland rates in a positive fashion, like the other states do, when the big increases come to light.

Click on the link in his e-mail, enter your contact info and you'll be flooded with pleas for $$$ and petition signatures to stop the mean insurance companies from exploding everyone's rate by 120%. Of course, you won't be told that the increase doesn't affect the vast majority of Maryland residents because they have Group insurance or are on Medicaid. But politicians can't let minor facts like this get in the way of fundraising!

 

[somarco]

Politicians will say anything to get elected. I recall someone saying your health insurance premiums will drop by $2500 and if you like the plan you have you can keep it.'

Whatever happened to that guy?

 

[RayNY]

Somarco, I think that guy got elected, twice.

Why is this Doug guy setting the requirement so high? Rates should be capped at -5% if anything. This is supposed to SAVE money and REDUCE premium, not make it increase at a slower rate.

 

[bobson]

Because of these reforms, every American will be guaranteed access to high quality and affordable health care.

I love vauge generalities. No definition of high quality or affordable anywhere in the piece.

 

[Josh]

Unfortunately, as trite as this may sound, politics is less about fact and more about the fiction the ignorant masses believe. People get the government they deserve. We have an uneducated voting base that elects off of one and two sentence thoughts instead of evaluating the situation as a whole. One fo the reasons why I love the Commonwealth of Virginia is that we voted for Tim Kane. He was elected for the senate even after cutting funding to schools. His opposition ran that in their ads in an attempt to demonize him, but I loved it. As a libertarian it led me to believe that if even the other side has nice things to say about him, he must be a good guy. He lowered his own pay, balanced the budget, and made difficult decisions that would be unpopular to most voters; I liked him for it.

My wife's family tends to lean fairly liberal and by most accounts I think they're fairly intelligent, but I have it sit then down for fifteen minutes to talk some sense into them about these things. Eventually they see the point and how higher deductible plans encourage responsible spending while lowering the cost for everyone, how employers that are nice enough to offer someone a salary shouldn't be then obligated to buy them overpriced insurance, how the root cause of the problems in our healthcare system has nothing to do with insurance and nearly everything to do with provider billing and utilization. People think they're too busy to learn about this stuff so they vote for people that say things they want to here. The ignorant masses are sadly the ones dictating our future.

 

[bluediamond]

What will they do if they can't remain solvent? lay off thousands of workers? Getting medicaid is not a solution after losing a paycheck.

FL recently went the other way and signed into law, that for the next 2 years, no carrier has to get prior approval from the DOI for rate increases on NON GF policies.

Is there a link to this Bill?