How I learned to stop worrying and love the Obamacare bomb

Well how about it? Turns out there was a little time bomb buried in the health care reform act.

That would be the provision of the law, called the medical loss ratio, that requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers’ premium dollars they collect—85% for large group insurers—on actual medical care rather than overhead, marketing expenses and profit. Failure on the part of insurers to meet this requirement will result in the insurers having to send their customers a rebate check representing the amount in which they underspend on actual medical care.

Goes into effect now. Apparently HHS is taking a hard line on the reg. No way corporations are going to be allowed to claim things like commissions on policy sales as a medical expense to satisfy the requirement. If they're really forced to spend that much on actual health care, I can see how it could eventually lead to single payer. Rick is certainly defending the theory well in comments. Hope he's right. As he says:

Everyone wins-except the for-profit health insurers.

I can live with that.

So can I.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]