Freak Out!

While the political left and right in this country freak out over things like wieners, poll numbers, and the recent jobs report for May - we need to keep our focus on the big picture so as not to get too caught up in the daily hysteria manufactured by them and the media.

One good way to do that is to remind ourselves of things like this:



No, the economy didn't create enough jobs in the month of May. But the private sector did add 83,000 jobs and the record for the Obama administration is all going in the right direction after Republicans sent us into the ditch.

There's also some very important news like this article that Blackwaterdog flagged yesterday.

It turns out that pigs do fly. Last month, insurer Aetna received approval from Connecticut regulators of its request to reduce premiums on individual policies by an average 10 percent, starting in September. Yes, you read that right: reduce the premium. The decrease, which affects some 15,000 consumers, will save those policyholders $259 annually, on average.

“I think it’s the shape of things to come,” Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University and a consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, says of Aetna’s move.

Under the health-care overhaul, insurers beginning this year must spend at least 80 percent of the premium dollars they collect on medical claims or quality improvement efforts. Administrative expenses and profits are limited to 20 percent or less of what they collect. Those that don’t meet these new “medical loss ratio” standards have to refund the extra premiums collected to consumers. (In insurance lingo, medical claims paid are considered “losses.”)

“[It] has to do with making sure consumers are getting value for their premium dollar,” Sarah Lueck, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says of the new provisions.

As the right screamed about "socialized medicine" and all the left could talk about was the public option, too many people missed this important provision in health care reform that is just starting to come on line now. And people are going to SAVE MONEY on health care because of it. I remember years ago when tackling health care costs was seen as a priority for dealing with the challenges in our economy. Well...its happening. We need to notice things like that, talk them up, and not buy in to the freak out.