If the government can make purchase of health insurance mandatory under the "Commerce Clause" of the Constitution, then it can make the purchase of anything mandatory.  Incidentally, precedent sets law, and individuals have the right to opt out of Medciare B and Medicare D.  How then on that basis alone can this be mandatory??

 - Jim

"Supreme Court will hear health reform case"

An immutable law of economics is that whatever the government subsidizes, society gets more of. Subsidize ethanol and you get more of it. Subsidize homeownership and you get more homes. Subsidize poverty and you get more "poor" people. Nevermind that some are the professional poor. European subsidies for the jobless have maintained unemployment rates of not less than 8% — usually much higher — no matter the strength of the economy. If you want fewer poor people, then stop subsudizing poverty.

- Jfrymire

"Poverty hits new high based on revised numbers"

Why do Republicans hate people?  They are supposed to be "pro-life" but of course that applies before birth only. It amazes me how a group of people can be this cruel, this…un-American, and wrap themselves in the flag and the cross.

- Blake 7

"Wisconsin approves millions in Medicaid cuts"

Consumer Watchdog is blatantly misleading the general public.  There exists no fancy commission schemes and brokers aren't getting filthy rich at the expense of the consumer.  I read where the median agent income is around $60k a year. Broker commissions have no affect on the rebates paid to consumers.  Forcing carriers to pay broker commissions is only going to affect the carrier's profitability.  The carrier has 20% of collected premium to figure out how to cover overhead and squeeze out a small profit.     Carriers will pass on this additional overhead expense in the form of higher premiums.  They will also cut broker commissions to levels that may not be worthy of their time any longer in the business.  It doesn't matter how efficient a broker becomes, if you are getting paid pennies your business model falls apart.   At the end of the day, commissions in the MLR hurt the insurance carrier, the broker and ultimately the consumer in higher premiums and less representation. None of the states who currently use an MLR have been able to curve the rising premium and healthcare costs. It's obvious Consumer Watchdog is a leftist organization whose ultimate goal is to shut down insurance companies, drive brokers into the unemployment line and implement a single payer system. 

- DVM

"Consumer group: 3 reasons why health reform won't put brokers out of business"

I certainly don't always agree with all of your comments, but you're right, in order to change, we need to look at benefits differently and consider options that weren't in the main stream before. Too many brokers/consultants and benefit professionals tout their innovative approaches, but at the end of the day, it's just lip service. Creative solutions, mean trailblazing sometimes instead of sitting on our hands and not rocking the boat.

- Mike

"Somebody call HR"