Competition or Government Price Controls

Price Control Proponent

From the Santa Fe New Mexican - Dozens of self-employed people with Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico individual health plans who showed up for a Wednesday hearing seeking relief from a double-digit rate hike, and a chance to speak, were doubly frustrated. They will have a long wait — more than six weeks — to find out if hearing examiner Alan Seeley finds the increase is warranted. And on Wednesday, they had to wait five and a half hours to offer a comment. More than 100 people, about half of them not attorneys or state staff, packed the Apodaca Hall at the PERA building for the hearing, which began at 9 a.m. Lawyers for the state Attorney General's Office, the insurance company and their witnesses gave testimony first. The public didn't get to talk until 2:30 p.m. By then, about half had left. Several said they had to go to work. Jack Huberman, a Blue Cross Blue Shield member since 1995 who faces the rate hike, stayed to the bitter end. "I'm self-employed," Huberman said, "and being here means I'm not earning money. I'm dismayed by the nature of this hearing. People here have had to sit through a showing of lawyers ... all well-paid to be here. My frustration with this process knows no bounds." Read more here:

Competition or Government Price Controls