Editorial Blasts Legislation To Empower Insurance Oversight

"State legislators are considering yet another unnecessary, counterproductive law to regulate the health care industry," an Orange County Register editorial states. AB 52 would allow health insurance regulators "to roll back premiums, order refunds and impose penalties based on government bureaucrats' determination," according to the editorial. "Imposing artificial, arbitrary limits on how much an insurance company can charge won't affect" the costs of "treatment, tests, hospitalization and drugs," the editorial argues, concluding, "Rather than more government involvement, lawmakers should remove impediments to lower costs" and allow consumers "to buy insurance across state lines."

• "Don't Let Bureaucrats Set Health Insurance Premiums" (Orange County Register, 5/12).