http://hotair.com/archives/2010/09/10/sebelius-insurers-who-criticize-obamacare-may-get-locked-out-of-system/Sebelius: insurers who criticize ObamaCare may get locked out of system
posted at 11:36 am on September 10, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
Does ObamaCare trump the First Amendment? HHS Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius must think so. Yesterday, after apparently tiring of
criticism of the new law from the companies it will eventually put out
of business, Sebelius offered to
expedite that process for those who don’t take an opportunity to shut their mouths:
President Barack Obama’s top health official on Thursday warned the
insurance industry that the administration won’t tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law.
"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and
unjustified rate increases,” Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to the
insurance lobby.
"Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their
premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide
consumers with basic protections,” Sebelius said. She warned that bad
actors may be excluded from new health insurance markets that will open
in 2014 under the law. They’d lose out on a big pool of customers, as
many as 30 million people nationwide.
By those standards, Sebelius would have to
exclude Medicare as well. Four months ago, Medicare — which is under Sebelius’
authority — released a highly misleading brochure about the impact
ObamaCare has on its consumers. It stated that Medicare Advantage
patients would "still receive guaranteed Medicare benefits,” which was
never in question, but made it sound as though they would suffer no
reduction in services or benefits from the $500 billion in cuts to the
program. It also bragged about changes in ObamaCare that had nothing to
do with Medicare, including the mandate that insurers keep "children”
on family policies until age 26 — a provision that does not include
Medicare, for obvious reasons.
Rarely have we heard a Cabinet official tell Americans to stay out of
political debates at the risk of losing their businesses. It points
out the danger in having government run industries and holding a
position where politicians can actually destroy a business out of
spite. It also demonstrates the thin skin of our current
administration, where Hope and Change means keeping your mouth shut and
pretending that everyone is happy while businesses slowly circle the
drain.
Of course, maybe Sebelius won’t go as far as to lock them out of the
state exchanges for disputing the Official Smiley-Face Rhetoric
Enforcement Squad at HHS. Perhaps she’ll just send them to a
re-education facility instead