Certain politicians have taken on California's 39 percent health care rate hike as a populist cause. Dumb move, especially with Obamacare teetering on the brink. If (and I readily admit it's a big "if") the real story comes out, it'll be a gift to health care reform opponents.
What is it about California that makes it a target for WellPoint's greed? Does WellPoint, and its California subsidiary Anthem Blue Cross, just not like the state? Or are these rate hikes the cost of doing business in a state with a suffocating regulatory environment of which health care reform proponents wish to emulate nationwide–costs that are, of course, passed on to consumers.
Under federal COBRA rules, unemployed policyholders are allowed to keep their health benefits for 18 to 36 months after separation. But California goes one further, and bars Anthem from dropping these customers even after federal COBRA coverage runs out. According to the Wall Street Journal, California also caps what Anthem can charge these post-COBRA customers. The most damage, however, comes from monkeying with adverse selection, a lesson for those advocating for a prohibition on denials for pre-existing conditions (takes the pesky insurance portion of insurance reform).
