PRICE CONTROL: Mass. agency limits health premium increases

[phleshdef]

Massachusetts regulators issued their first batch of health care price controls on Thursday, rejecting the vast majority of small business health premium increases sought this year by the state's major insurers.

Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy announced he had disapproved 235 of 274 proposed rate increases because they included "excessive increases and rates unreasonable relative to the benefits provided."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100401/ap_on_bi_ge/ma_premium_cap

[Captain Hilts]

1. THAT's what national healthcare is missing! Cost control! nt

[phleshdef]

2. Won't HHS have this same type of power?

[flpoljunkie]

3. Yes.

Insurers competing in the new exchanges would be required to justify rate increases and those who raise prices excessively could be barred from the exchanges.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/19/us/politics/20100319-health-care-reconciliation.html#tab=9

[phleshdef]

4. Yea, so here we see a real world example of how this is gonna work.

[cutlassmama]

5. Yay! Let's hope all states will do this

[phleshdef]

6. My point is that once the exchanges are created, our fed government can do this.