Sebelius: Insurers Will Be Punished For Telling The Truth

[boedicca]

Yet more evidence that we live in a Thugocracy:

President Barack Obama's top health official on Thursday warned the insurance industry that the administration won't tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law.

"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to the insurance lobby.

"Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide consumers with basic protections," Sebelius said. She warned that bad actors may be excluded from new health insurance markets that will open in 2014 under the law. They'd lose out on a big pool of customers, as many as 30 million people nationwide....

HHS to insurers: Don't blame us for your rates - Yahoo! News


Sebelius is essentially threatening insurers to shut up or risk being denied the business to be doled out by the government. This is what happens when Big Government runs amok.

 

[Steerpike]

This should be a Constitutional problem. Corporations do have some First Amendment protection.

 

[Jarhead]

No joke...but this is no joke. They are starting to use true thuggery to eliminate peoples right to free speech.
The fact that they can actually control it and are now using such control to control what is said about it is very concerning....and it should be to everyone.

 

[Sinatra]

Yet more evidence that we live in a Thugocracy:

President Barack Obama's top health official on Thursday warned the insurance industry that the administration won't tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law.

"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to the insurance lobby.

"Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide consumers with basic protections," Sebelius said. She warned that bad actors may be excluded from new health insurance markets that will open in 2014 under the law. They'd lose out on a big pool of customers, as many as 30 million people nationwide....

HHS to insurers: Don't blame us for your rates - Yahoo! News


Sebelius is essentially threatening insureres to shut up or risk being denied the business to be doles out by the government. This is what happens when Big Government runs amok.

Thank you for this - my goodness this administration is has truly run off the track...

 

[LibocalypseNow]

Socialism is fun huh? Lets hope more Americans see that Socialism always leads to Government abuse. It's all about attacking and punishing fellow citizens. They just can't help themselves. Less Government is the answer. Change can happen though. Make 2010 count people.

 

[RDD_1210]

Maybe they are concerned about insurance companies flat out lying about the cause for rates increases. Just a thought.

 

[Steerpike]

Maybe they are concerned about insurance companies flat out lying about the cause for rates increases. Just a thought.

Could be. But when you have the government trying to strong-arm certain speech, particularly when there is a political element to the issue, I think the standard needs to be very high indeed before the government can come in and start penalizing the speech.

 

[RDD_1210]

Maybe they are concerned about insurance companies flat out lying about the cause for rates increases. Just a thought.

Could be. But when you have the government trying to strong-arm certain speech, particularly when there is a political element to the issue, I think the standard needs to be very high indeed before the government can come in and start penalizing the speech.

True, and I'm not saying I agree with the trying to stop the insurance companies from saying these things, but I think they are fed up with the lies and outright misinformation that has been spread about the healthcare bill. They want people to understand what is actually going to happen and the insurance companies using the health care bill as a scapegoat for their increasing rates, is not helping the situation.

 

[Steerpike]

Assuming the insurance companies are doing that. It stands to reason the health care bill is going to lead to increased rates. Whether the companies are exaggerating that, I don't know.

 

[boedicca]

Even if it is a lie (which I doubt), Free Speech includes the right to lie.

 

[Modbert]

Considering the way the OP has framed the article, any reasonable chance of honest and intelligent discussion on this issue has gone out the window.

That being said, I do think it's a little both. However, considering how insurers have been treating their customers, especially the last decade, not sure why people are so quick to trust them. Or should we trust people who want to deny insurance coverage to women who were domestic abuse victims?

 

[Steerpike]

Even if it is a lie (which I doubt), Free Speech includes the right to lie.

No. I believe the Supreme Court has ruled on more than one occasion that there is no First Amendment protection for someone telling a lie (i.e. something they know to be false at the time they are saying it).

 

[Modbert]

Even if it is a lie (which I doubt), Free Speech includes the right to lie.

And nobody is saying they don't have that right to a opinion. The government can give contracts to whomever they want, if you want that changed, vote. However, if you want to complain about the way government contracts are structured, then you should probably also complain about all the sweet deals that Haliburton and other companies got in the lead-up to the Iraq War. However, I doubt you have ever and will ever do so.

Just my two cents.

 

[boedicca]

I'd like to see a link proving that assertion.

 

[RDD_1210]

Even if it is a lie (which I doubt), Free Speech includes the right to lie.

Of course it does. Hence why I don't think the govt should try to use legal force to stop the insurance companies, but they can certainly make a stink about it through PR efforts.

And for your information, health insurance rates have been climbing for years, so to say that the increases this year, next year or beyond is solely due to the health reform bill is in fact, a lie.

 

[boedicca]

Even if it is a lie (which I doubt), Free Speech includes the right to lie.

And nobody is saying they don't have that right. The government can give contracts to whomever they want, if you want that changed, vote. However, if you want to complain about the way government contracts are structured, then you should probably also complain about all the sweet deals that Haliburton and other companies got in the lead-up to the Iraq War. However, I doubt you have ever and will ever do so.

Just my two cents.

BINGO. Health care is all about BIG GOVERNMENT CONTROL.

They can give the contracts to whomever they wish - and wield that power to reward and punish.

 

[Modbert]

Even if it is a lie (which I doubt), Free Speech includes the right to lie.

Also, what a herp derp post. Ever hear of Libel and Defamation?

 

[Modbert]

BINGO. Health care is all about BIG GOVERNMENT CONTROL.

They can give the contracts to whomever they wish - and wield that power to reward and punish.

Whoosh. You terribly missed the point. You're complaining about something that has been SOP for a very long time in every faucet of government when it deals with contracts. Only now you are complaining. That is hypocrisy.

 

[Steerpike]

You can look at Gertz v. Robert Welch Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 1 Med.L.Rptr. 1633 (1974) as an example. The Supreme Court says in that case there is no Constitutional protection for a false statement of fact.

 

[RDD_1210]

So, as you can see...health premiums have been rising well before "obamacare".