ObamaCare is forcing health insurers out of markets across the country, and the first casualties are small businesses and the health insurance agents who serve them.
The House Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations invited Grace-Marie Turner to testify on December 15, 2011 at a hearing on an obscure and complex provision in the health overhaul law that is causing widespread damage.
The hearing was entitled, “New Medical Loss Ratios: Increasing Health Care Value or Just Eliminating Jobs?” Washington has the audacity to tell insurers how they must spend premium dollars through its “Medical Loss Ratio” (MLR) dictates.
The provision already is backfiring, forcing private carriers out of markets, giving those that remain incentives to increase premiums, and depriving businesses of the skills and assistance of trained insurance brokers who basically serve as external HR departments for many companies.
In her testimony, Grace-Marie describes how this obscure and complex regulation is:
- Leading to less competition and higher prices
- Contributing to lost jobs inside and outside the health sector
- Threatening to strangle popular Health Savings Accounts with regulations