Are the markets effectively discounting the effects of the outrageous rate increases in healthcare insurance now hitting small companies and self employed people at renewal time? It varies, but these are not small incremental increases this year.
One large health insurance provider states that they are making adjustments due to an error in the way they calculated rates the last couple years. That is fine if you define the adjustment as "We are scared shitless about healthcare reform and we are going to ram home a windfall rate increase this year in anticipation. We are colluding with all the other providers and what the hell are you going to do about it, anyway?"
My initial thought is that the greedy people running these companies are just a different shade of the same animal that runs many Wall Street firms. The public exists to feed these firms. This is a sign that something from government is all but a done deal in the eyes of the big insurers, or they would not be attacking their customer base like this while they are still free to do so. Makes one miss the old slow and steady gouging over time.
Let's see, jobs still have not recovered. The president has obviously been made aware that the real economy remains in crisis after the criminals in high places have been made whole again. Inflationary monetary policies are now needed for the regular folk and for now, our creditors continue to play along. Yes, 2010 should be an interesting year.
