Georgia: Free Markets don't work in health insurance

John Oxendine, Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner and candidate for the GOP nomination for governor has proposed a law that would allow Georgia’s insurance commissioner to block excessive health insurance rate hikes on policies sold in the individual market. Given the recent rate hike news from health care giant WellPoint this has got to be a good thing. And president Obama agrees proposing the federal government to have the authority to deny excessive premium rate rises.

For individuals without employer health insurance it leaves them vulnerable to industry led lobbying (not to mention greed).

Free markets don’t work in health insurance | Cynthia Tucker

Last year, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters Andy Miller and Margaret Newkirk took a look at individual health insurance policies sold in Georgia. They wrote: “Policies are suddenly canceled. Monthly premiums rival the size of mortgage payments. Huge bills go unpaid because of surprising gaps in coverage.. .With individual plans, carriers can legally charge higher premiums based on age, gender or health. They can refuse to cover conditions that group plans routinely include, or deny coverage outright for people with problems such as arthritis or diabetes.”