May 11 2010
Politico: "Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) is scolding the nations' health insurance companies for 'gaming' the new health care law and is pushing the administration and states to impose stringent controls under the law on industry expenditures for non-medical purposes. Saying the industry had turned its focus from opposing the law to influencing its implementation, Rockefeller said he was 'extremely concerned that the health insurance industry is mounting an all-out effort to weaken' the law. In a letter to [Health and Human Services] Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and National Association of Insurance Commissioners chair Jane Cline, Rockefeller focused on provisions that take effect soon limiting the proportion of premiums spent on administrative costs, as opposed to medical care." Rockefeller warns that insurers may "re-categorize administrative spending as medical," in order to meet the new requirement that "85 percent of subscriber premiums must be spent on medical costs in the group insurance market and 80 percent in individual plans" (Kliff, 5/9).
Los Angeles Times: Meanwhile, "[a] war of words between President Obama and health insurers escalated Sunday as industry giant WellPoint Inc. found itself under renewed attack for raising rates and canceling insurance policies of sick patients. President Obama raised the issues as part of his weekly radio address, saying: 'For too long, we have been held hostage to an insurance industry that jacks up premiums and drops coverage as they please. But those days are finally coming to an end.' WellPoint Chief Executive Angela Braly fired back. In a letter Sunday addressed directly to Obama, she noted that policy changes were underway nationwide, and she called on him to stop his attacks on the industry" (Helfand, 5/10).
 This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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Millions were booted from Medicaid. The insurers that run it gained Medicaid revenue anyway.