Scumbag insurance corporations scamming their policy holders

Building a bit on the last post, TPM investigates and finds insurance companies lying about Obamacare to their policy holders.

Donna received the letter canceling her insurance plan on Sept. 16. Her insurance company, LifeWise of Washington, told her that they'd identified a new plan for her. If she did nothing, she'd be covered.

Of course she would be paying $300 a month more for the pleasure of staying with a plan she "liked." But Donna is no fool. She shopped around on the Obamacare exchanges.

If Donna had done nothing, she would have ended up spending about $1,000 more a month for insurance than she will now that she went to the marketplace, picked the best plan for her family and accessed tax credits at the heart of the health care reform law.

"The info that we were sent by LifeWise was totally bogus. Why the heck did they try to screw us?" Donna said. "People who are afraid of the ACA should be much more afraid of the insurance companies who will exploit their fear and end up overcharging them."

Donna is not alone.

It's happening in many states. More than a few insurers are doing it, but some are more blatantly swindling consumers than others.

The insurance companies argue that it's simply capitalism at work. But regulators don't see it that way. By warning customers that their health insurance plans are being canceled as a result of Obamacare and urging them to secure new insurance plans before the Obamacare launched on Oct. 1, these insurers put their customers at risk of enrolling in plans that were not as good or as affordable as what they could buy on the marketplaces.

This was always the fatal flaw in Obamacare. Its success depended on the greedy insurance mega-corporations to be honest in their dealings. We knew that was never going to happen. But at least it's more difficult for them to get away with it now. So there's that. Still, caveat emptor.