Here is a portion of Kathleen Sebelius' recent email letter. She cites rate increases as a reason to pass Obamacare, but fails to recognize that rate hikes are a reaction to impending or feared market changes.
At a time when health insurance companies are fighting as hard as ever to stop health reform, their actions couldn't show more clearly why we need it.
In California, beneficiaries recently received letters from Anthem Blue Cross announcing their rates would go up as high as 39 percent. Elsewhere, in the last year alone, large insurers have requested premium increases of 56 percent in Michigan, 24 percent in Connecticut, 23 percent in Maine and 20 percent in Oregon.
If we don't pass reform, premiums will continue to rise and Americans will continue to be at the mercy of the worst insurance company practices and abuses.
We’re closer than ever to making reform a reality. We can't let up now.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Similarly, credit card companies raised their rates and increased credit limits last spring in anticipation of CARD which was signed by President Obama in May 2009. In a market-driven economy such as ours, every reform seems to cost the customer. When will it end?
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