Karen Ignagni, president of the health insurance industry’s lobbying front AHIP, last week laid a portion of the the blame for a new round of double-digit health premium increases on "the impact of younger and healthier people dropping
their insurance." My post (here and on Daily Kos) about a blast of anger from HHS over the rate hikes, and Ignagni’s response, drew an anguished comment from someone who’s neither young nor totally healthy and was forced to drop health insurance. She puts the lie to Ignagni’s excuse.

Here’s what "housesella" wrote in response to commenters who were casually blaming premium spikes on a weak health reform law and an indifferent White House. Don’t miss the last paragraph:

In 1999 we paid $555.00 a month for a family of five.  Sh—y
insurance with no eyecare, no dental, no mental health, no
chiropractic, medium copays, generic only drugs, and a whole host of
other restrictions.

We have not changed policies, (actually because we can’t because of
pre-existings) except to have the kids gone as they moved out and got
too old, and the policy has changed some of the things it used to cover
that it no longer does (like sleep apnea and the c-pap, which my
husband has)

In July they raised us 40 percent AGAIN and finally at almost $4000
per month for 2 people we can no longer pay. If we would have been
raised just 20 percent we would still probably have insurance.

I cannot believe so many people here [in the comments section] are blaming the law.
 Good, terrible or indifferent, HRC is not the cause of this rate
increase, except to scare/terrorize/blackmail people into revoking what
little was accomplished.  And yet, most here seem to side with the
insurance companies because HRC was so weak.  

Do you think even if we had 100% socialized medicine passed that the
insurance companies wouldn’t have been even worse?  Unless of course
you somehow believe that if we had passed something else it would have
already taken effect?

Curious?…would you be yelling and demanding that the government
help all us poor saps that lost insurance or would you be telling us to
hang tough and wait, help is on the way?  Would you be fighting for
something incremental or would you blame the damned insurance
companies?  

Because with the HRC law we have right now, in January we will be
able to get on the emergency pre-existing state plan and we will be
paying about what we paid in 2001, and our insurance will be better
than we have had since we started.  So for us at least, this law will
work.