Joseph Rugg's Health Law Blog

Republicans make a lot of hay pointing out how health insurance premiums available on the health insurance exchanges have increased for many Americans.  Where this is true (and is not true in all states), it is the result of many factors.  Some of the increase is the result of more benefits being provided as required by Obamacare, some of the increase is the result of the prohibition against denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions and related protections under Obamacare, and much is the result of bad decisions (both historically and recently) by state legislatures or governors or both.  Some of these decisions were made for the sole purpose of hurting the implementation of Obamacare — e.g., refusing Medicaid expansion, not setting up a state exchange, not exercising authority over insurance rates, etc.

No one wants to pay more for the health insurance they already had.  Some increase may have been inevitable.  However, we should make sure to place much of the blame on short-sighted political shenanigans aimed at thwarting healthcare reform at the expense of people.  I have written before about Florida’s Governor Rick Scott and his campaign of lies and deceit against Obamacare which many Florida Cabinet officers and Department heads and State Legislators have endorsed. Apparently, Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker is just as bad — health insurance premiums for Wisconsin residents will be 79% to 99% higher than those for Minnesota residents because of him.

Yes, there have been some pretty horrendous computer network issues at the exchanges that have frustrated and dissappointed those seeking to get health insurance.

But can’t we all agree that there is a difference between the unintended (even negligent) computer snafus on the one hand and the deliberate behavior seeking to do harm on the other?  As Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote in The Common Law, “Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.”  Frankly, I’m a little sore from being kicked.