“Great. My firm contracts with Carefirst, and just got a notice that our rates are going up over 20% for this year. This is the reason why.”
The double-digit increases are also why we are headed for socialized medicine. This issue turns even staunch conservatives liberal - when they are faced with paying the full cost of medical care/insurance.
If Obama games the issue well enough, this will be what gives him a chance at re-election when by all rights, he should have no chance at all.
The Full Cost of medical care would go down if there was any incentive to reduce costs in the medical field. Since the deep pockets of health insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP, and so on pay for so much of our health care, and use of health insurance is encouraged by government policy, the costs get astronomical.
Imagine if we had comprehensive food insurance: Bread: 15 dollars a loaf! Apples: 10 dollars a pound! Milk: 20 dollars a gallon!