Health insurers line up to compete in California's exchange - latimes.com
State officials, and those in other states, are eager to flex their purchasing power under the federal healthcare law by selecting only certain individual and small-business health plans for 19 different regions across California.Deep in the report comes the truth:
The exchange, branded Tuesday as Covered California, will negotiate with insurers for the best rates and will assist consumers and small businesses in choosing a plan by separating them into five categories based on cost and level of benefits.
"There will be a lot of competition and interest, which will enable the exchange to be an active purchaser in every region and pick the best five or six plans," said Peter Lee, executive director of the California exchange.
"The plans we will be offering in San Diego will be very different from the set of plans in Sacramento or Los Angeles," said Lee, a former Obama administration healthcare official.
Insurers who aren't chosen to be among the exchange's plans can still offer policies outside the exchange. But many people seeking coverage are expected to go through the exchange because they can get government financial and educational assistance.
California insurance officials have expressed concern about substantial rate hikes for some existing policyholders going into the exchange.
Under a new rating map approved by state lawmakers, the Department of lnsurance estimated that premiums for similar coverage could increase as much as 25% in West Los Angeles, 22% in the Sacramento area and nearly 13% in Orange County.
How nuts is all this? While acknowledging the rate hikes, the California health czars are spinning this like it is a rate cut with free market competition, when it is a rigged crony system designed to deliver less for more. LaTi reports the contradictions with a straight face:
The exchange's five-member board picked the Covered California name after testing several monikers with consumer focus groups. The tentative tag line is: "Your destination for affordable healthcare." Other finalists included Eureka, Ursa and Avocado...
Overall, [Peter] Lee [executive director of the California exchange] said, 33 insurers and other organizations have expressed a nonbinding interest in bidding for business through the exchange. As many as 13 plans may bid in the Los Angeles area, and about 20 plans have signaled interest for the San Francisco market, according to the exchange.
California's four largest insurers in the individual market — Kaiser Permanente, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California and Health Net Inc. — have indicated interest in the exchange. Smaller insurers and large hospital systems may offer health plans in specific areas.
Officials are expected to pick the winning health plans and negotiate rates by June.Competition is not about 5 bastards in a room picking coverage for the 37,000,000 people living in California. It is about companies competing to get some of the 37 million as customers against others trying to do the same, and letting each and everyone of the 37 million pick and choose for themselves what they want for coverage.
The potential severe spike in premiums is causing the evil 5 to go on to phase two of government interventions, when there first intervention mucks things up: price controls.
Here's LaTi:
Janice Rocco, the state's deputy insurance commissioner for health policy, said her agency is pushing a new rating map that would cap increases at 8%. That proposal could be considered during a special legislative session in the coming months.
"We want to minimize the rate spikes," she said.A cap is a price control. Price controls are simply an attempt to defy the laws of supply and demand. It can't work and will result in shortages.
Stay healthy my friends. The quality of healthcare in this country is about to collapse.
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