Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
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It seems that Republicans and Libertarians are not the only ones who understand that Obamacare will raise premiums.
GAO Report: ObamaCare Waivers Issued to Prevent Premium Increases Caused By Health Law
For those who have a hard time following embedded links.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11725r.pdf
For months, its been unclear how the Obama administrations Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO)the new bureaucracy set up to regulate health insurance under ObamaCarewas deciding whether to hand out waivers to businesses and unions seeking exemptions from some of the laws requirements. Now, thanks to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), we have a somewhat better idea: The administration was handing out waivers in order to prevent large health insurance premium hikes that last years health care would have otherwise caused.
According to the GAO, which prepared its report with the help and guidance of CCIIO, the Obama administrations new insurance regulators granted waivers on the basis of an applications projected significant increase in premiums or significant reduction in access to health care benefits. Its not a bright-line test, however; theres still a discretionary element. As the reports authors explain, officials told us that they could not exclusively rely on specific numerical criteria to define a significant increase in premiums or a significant decrease in access to benefits, because applicant characteristics and circumstances varied widely. So the process is still not fully transparent.
But whats most important about the report is how it reveals, yet again, that the folks running the ObamaCare show are aware of the effects the law will have on the price of insurance. Like the Obama administrations decision to grant the state of Maine a waiver from ObamaCares medical loss ratio requirement, the GAOs description of the waiver process is about as straightforward an admission as anyone is likely to get fulfilling ObamaCares new insurance requirements does indeed drive up premium prices and/or reduce health insurance benefits.
GAO Report: ObamaCare Waivers Issued to Prevent Premium Increases Caused By Health Law
For those who have a hard time following embedded links.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11725r.pdf