…on behalf of, well, not the people of the State of Delaware, has been dismissed by federal regulators. The News-Journal story has a distinct Karen in Wonderland flavor to it.
To (half-)wit: Our elected insurance commissioner, apparently on her own, applied for a three-year waiver to:
“exempt Aetna and UnitedHealthcare from spending 80 percent of premiums on medical care rather than administrative expenses or profits.”
You see, our Insurance Commissioner, who was elected by the people of the State of Delaware, felt that these much-maligned companies should only have to pay 65 cents of every health care dollar for, you know, health care. Her quote, in the form of a Yogi-worthy mixed metaphor:
“Sometimes it’s better to take baby steps than it is to swallow whole,” Stewart said Monday.
Before I proceed, can we all agree that this homily deserves consideration for end-of-the-year awards?
Thought so.
In other words, unless my reading comprehension skills have completely left me, our Insurance Commissioner, who was elected by the people of the State of Delaware, fought for higher executive salaries, higher commissions, and higher overhead and marketing costs for Aetna and United Healthcare to the detriment of health care delivery for Delaware policyholders. To the tune of 15 cents out of every health care dollar. She specifically was carrying the torch for insurance brokers/salespersons who were facing slashes in their commissions. That is precisely the kind of wasteful spending that leads to high healthcare costs and needs to be slashed. If everyone has to have health insurance, someone shouldn’t get a commission to sell it to you. And why should this small group of greedy individuals carry more weight with our elected IC than those whose health care would suffer to the tune of 15 cents out of every health care dollar?
Plus, even with the exorbitant golden parachutes BC/BSD execs are eying hungrily, Blue Cross/Blue Shield Delaware easily exceeds the 80% mandate. It ain’t that hard to do.
By Stewart’s own admission, the denial of her federal application will lead to “either lower premiums or rebates for about 6,300 Delawareans with individual insurance plans”. Lower premiums or rebates that KWS didn’t want you to have. Um, did I mention that she was elected by the people of the State of Delaware? Just want to make sure.
And I just want to make sure that this misbegotten sop to the insurance industry never gets near elective office ever again. She is truly one of the worst elected officials in Delaware history. And that’s saying something.