Thursday, October 28, 2010

Unintended Consequences of Health Care Reform

Health Care reform has already had significant consequences and clearly the worst is yet to come.  First it started with premiums on many health plans going up in the 16-20% range because of the downstream costs associated with many of the provisions of health care.  Then there was the stupidity of the component of the reform where a minimum of 80% of premiums must be spent on health care coverage.  In what market and industry does government dictate what margins must be made in a free market?  The consequences of this was McDonalds threatening to drop their coverage on their “mini-med” plans.  Our benevolent government responded with a waiver.  There is already a lot of haggling over what constitutes “health care coverage”.

According to a report released by Senators Coburn and Barrasso, millions will face losing the plans they now enjoy “as employers either drop coverage or purchase more expensive, government-dictated health insurance.”  

Every time government gets involved like this, there are unintended consequences.  That is precisely what will happen and has happened with health care reform. 

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