Mandate Without Price Controls= Increased Costs?

The Los Angeles Times today published an analysis of health care reform that includes a mandate for everyone to purchase health insurance but does not take steps to control the price of that insurance. The results, argue Noam Levey and James Oliphant, would be rising premiums for everyone.

"We are about to force at least 30 million people into an insurance market where the sharks are circling," said California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a Democrat who served as the state's insurance commissioner for eight years. "Without effective protections, they will be eaten alive."

Soaring premiums coupled with millions of new customers forced to buy policies would likely mean higher costs for taxpayers to cover government subsidies for lower-income families and individuals.

Democrats have shied away from measures to control premium costs: "While states have long supervised what companies charge for mandated automobile and homeowners insurance, the idea has been largely banished from the healthcare debate."

You can read the LA Times piece here.