Will Gov. Patrick Stand Firm on Capping Health Care Premium Rates?
It remains to be seen if Gov. Deval Patrick will grow a spine on the health care front and make his new "soft cap" on annual increases in health insurance company premiums into a hard cap. As it stands, Patrick has ordered the new state insurance commissioner Joseph G. Murphy to "investigate" any requests by insurers for increases higher than 4.8 percent a year. But with the insurers asking for premium increases of between 8 percent and 32 percent - while claiming to have lost money last year - it's anybody's guess whether Patrick will really follow through with this initiative and start putting the brakes on insurance industry greed.
Interestingly, the most public pressure being put on Patrick to do that is coming from small business owners - a cohort that faithful Open Media Boston viewers may recall me editorializing about some weeks back. Pointing out that it makes about zero sense that small business owners don't back single payer health care since they are one of the groups most affected by skyrocketing premium costs. Of course, an even worse off group is the employees of small business owners - who are among the most unorganized groups of working people in our society. And therefore, among the most powerless.
Be that unfortunate situation as it may, in this case there is a happy convergeance between the needs of workers and the needs of small business owners. I would expect that health care reformers will take full advantage of the convergeance to better organize both groups towards the goal of single payer health care at the state and national level. Time is of the essence for health care activists, as usual. Insurers had to file their proposed 2010 rate plans with the state last week, and can expect rulings on their desired premium hikes mid-month. Normally, they'd be able to start charging their new rates on April 1st when most individuals and small businesses renew their health care plans. But this time, if the state isn't satisfied with insurers' rationales for their rate hikes they'll be held to charging their 2009 rates for the coming year. Which would be an interesting development indeed.
Not to say that it isn't likely that Patrick will find a way to back out of his own reform move. He'll be under a lot of pressure from Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan, and Fallon Community Health Plan to do just that. But maybe this time there will be enough counter pressure from small business and grassroots reform groups to help that erstwhile spine of his to keep on growing in. At least on health care issues, if not in many other policy areas. So we'll be watching developments on this fight with interest here at Open Media Boston HQ.
