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Unfunded Mandates? State Insurance Commissioners Can't Enforce Health Regs

No need for regulatory capture:

Faced with the need to review insurance rates and enforce a panoply of new rights granted to consumers, states are scrambling to make sure they have the necessary legal authority to carry out the responsibilities being placed on them by President Obama’s health care law. Insurance commissioners in about half the states say they do not have clear authority to enforce consumer protection standards that take effect next month.

Federal and state officials are searching for ways to plug the gap. Otherwise, they say, the ability of consumers to secure the benefits of the new law could vary widely, depending on where they live. [. . .] States have the primary role in enforcing many of the new standards. If a state fails to enforce a standard, the federal government will step in to do so — as it did in several states after passage of a health insurance law in 1996.

The fundamental problem with the regulatory reform framework favored by the Obama Administration and championed by Beltway Bloggers, like Ezra Klein and Jon Cohn, is the dependence on a regulatory framework that has always failed in this area and that, imo, will fail again.

What the critics of the "Professional Left" always fail to acknowledge is that while much of the legislation passed in the past years fit their wildest dreams, for many progressives, the belief is that the legislation simply will not work. Let's hope the Beltway Bloggers are right. I think they will not be on the health bill.

Speaking for me only

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  • Display: Sort:
    Am expecting little more than a (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Anne on Sun Aug 15, 2010 at 01:33:22 PM EST
    figurative shrug of the shoulders and the message that "Hey, we tried!" followed by another whine about how ungrateful we are not to be satisfied with their effort.  Such as it was.

    Maybe (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by Left of the Left on Sun Aug 15, 2010 at 11:56:10 PM EST
    No one has told them how historic this all is. That should smooth out the gaps.

    Lyndon Johnson once said (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Makarov on Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 01:05:22 AM EST
    "You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered."

    That was my problem with 'Health Care Reform' from the beginning. I looked at the way Johnson would have.

    Wow (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 10:38:11 AM EST
    So they passed a health bill!  Wow!  Good news!<insert snark tag here>

    I must have missed it, because I was so peeved at their passing the 'Insurance Commissioner AND CONSUMER Unfunded Mandate.'

    Insurance Commissioners speak! (none / 0) (#1)
    by RonK Seattle on Sun Aug 15, 2010 at 11:28:35 AM EST
    The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is in town (Seattle) this week. So is Obama. But on short notice, the White House killed a joint appearance on health care, health care, health care, in favor of a stand-up on jobs, jobs, jobs.

    From the NAIC.org home page:

    URGENT: Due to a White House scheduling change, President Obama will not attend the NAIC Summer National Meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 17. We apologize for any inconvenience.

    Should be an interesting day in any case.

    From interviews I've heard (none / 0) (#3)
    by shoephone on Sun Aug 15, 2010 at 08:52:23 PM EST
    It seems that Kreidler is fully in support of the Obama health insurance legislation. Party line stuff.

    Parent
    Kreidler yes, how bout the other 55? (none / 0) (#6)
    by RonK Seattle on Mon Aug 16, 2010 at 10:05:08 AM EST
    And the opportunity to work the room while they're all in one room, at least for a major POTUS pep talk?

    Of course the Murray campaign calls the shots on capitalizing this visit, with jobs, jobs, jobs polling better than HCR, HCR, HCR.

    Parent