Washington's Pet Insurance Industry

(By Paul Howard, National Review Online) - University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein has an excellent article in the Journal today explaining how the complex insurance provisions of the Reid bill will either strangle the insurance industry or turn it into a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Government, Inc. Professor Epstein concludes that:

The inexorable squeeze between the constricted revenue sources allowable that insurers get under the Reid bill and the extensive and uncertain new legal obligations it imposes is likely to result in a massive cash-flow crunch that will drive the firms in the individual and small-group health insurance markets into speedy bankruptcy. The Supreme Court should apply the constitutional brakes to this foolhardy scheme if Congress doesn't come to its senses first.

The odds of Congress coming to its senses are slim to none. One can only hope that SCOTUS takes up the issue in short order. Professor Epstein's full analysis is available from the Manhattan Institute here.