What Else the Obama White House Hasn't Told You About Your Health Insurance

Nothing in the health care reform law stops the increase in premiums, or how much the medical-industrial complex can bill your health insurance.
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President Obama's apology on NBC tried to quell the uproar over the cancellations of health insurance policies for 10 to 15 million Americans.

Affordable Care Act supporters say the cancellations are part of the transition to a new and improved private health insurance market.

Among those affected are 900,000 Californians who won't be able to keep their individual health insurance, according to the executive director of Covered California, Peter Lee, who spoke with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle.

In Colorado, 250,000 people will have their policies cancelled, according to the state's health insurance commissioner as reported by the Denver Post.

Some people will pay more for health insurance. Unwelcome sticker shock is the cost of the transition, say health care reform supporters.

Higher premiums shouldn't be a surprise. It costs more money to insure people with pre-existing conditions, make insurance available to all-comers, add required benefits, and eliminate lifetime benefit caps.

Others will pay less for health insurance. Taxpayer-funded subsidies will lower the cost for those who are eligible.

Like wallpaper that covers up a giant crack in the plaster, subsidies offer the illusion of affordable health insurance. Here's why.

President Obama gave away the keys to the federal treasury to the health care industry in return for its support of the law, as I wrote in Battle Over Health Care: What Obama's Reform Means for America's Future.

Hospitals, doctors, drug companies, device manufacturers, diagnostic imaging centers, and everyone else that uses your health insurance card as their credit card, will be on a spending spree.

The mantra in health care today is, "Bill, baby, bill." Nothing in the health care reform law can stop the frenetic money grab.

Watch this 2011 interview with Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a year after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law and insurance companies were charging stratospheric rate increases.

ABC Nightly News reporter David Muir asked Sebelius what Americans should do if they are facing unaffordable hikes. "They should contact the governor of their state and the state legislature demanding that those laws be changed," she replied. Sebelius was referring to state laws that regulate insurance. Only a handful of states have laws that limit premium increases.

The message is loud and clear. Nothing in the health care reform law stops the increase in premiums, or how much the medical-industrial complex can bill your health insurance.

The Affordable Care Act doesn't make health care affordable. It perpetuates the illusion of affordability -- just as the illusion that you could keep your health insurance was perpetuated until reality set in.

For millions of Americans, unwelcome sticker shock is more than a transitory issue that will fade into the political woodwork. It is here to stay.

Spinmeisters won't be able to twist the truth on this one. President Obama's second term will be over by the time this reality kicks in.

Buckle your seat belts -- and hang onto your wallets -- for the ride ahead.

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