By “Matt Lewis & The News” guest blogger Jason Mattera
It’s bad enough that the new health-care law is directly responsible for premium spikes, displacing Americans from their current insurance, and that the president himself is picking and choosing which statutes of the law to enforce.
Now comes news that Democrats in Washington state are actually limiting consumer choice by rejecting health-care providers who already operate in the state, contradicting a key selling point of Obamacare: that it will increase market competition and thus lower prices.
“When Washington state approved individual health-insurance plans from four companies to be sold inside its newly created exchange marketplace, it also rejected efforts by five others,” notes Kaiser Health News in conjunction with the Seattle Times.
Among the banned are Moda Health Plan, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, and three current Medicaid plans.
Linda Evans Parlette, a Republican state senator, ripped the decision, explaining that such a move violates Obamacare’s promise to “increase choice and competition for health insurance.” Nineteen Washington counties must now choose coverage from a single provider.
It’s “significant reduction in free-market competition,” added her Republican colleague Michael Baumgartner.
Why the rejections in the first place?
State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler argues that the insurance plans he yanked didn’t “comply with state and federal law,” an odd excuse because many of the barred companies already cover Medicaid patients in his state. Molina Healthcare of Washington, for instance, has been doing just that for more than a decade.
Another, Community Health Plan of Washington, covers 305,000 Medicaid patients and says it aids “the unique needs of lower-income individuals,” but they, too, are forbidden from competing in the Obamacare exchanges.
So we’re left with a liberal insurance commissioner whose job is to facilitate enrollment in health-care plans going out of his way to block providers that tailor plans to low-income communities and currently manage the state’s Medicaid population.
In addition to choking competition, the new rule gives little incentive for current Medicaid patients who like their overall provider and doctor to make more money and elevate beyond the government poverty program.
“People will have to change health plans, and in many cases, change doctors,” said a spokesman for Molina.
Jason Mattera is the New York Times bestselling author of Hollywood Hypocrites and Obama Zombies as well as a radio host with legendary 77 WABC in NYC. His website is www.JasonMattera.com, where he offers a free e-book, 7 Ways To Make A Liberal Cry Like A Little Girl.