Wayne Goodwin’s free pass on O-Care catastrophe in NC
The remnants of our state’s mainstream media and their partners over at BluePrintNC have been obsessed with beating on NCDHHS secretary Aldona Wos. We got warnings — just before October 1 — about how North Carolina would be one of the worst-hit states by ObamaCare.
We’re getting reports of people seeing 300 to 500 percent increases in their out-of-pocket costs. We’re getting stories like this and this about sticker shock for average North Carolinians.
Aldona Wos has very little to do with any of this. But state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin DOES:
[…] You probably think the Department regulates insurance companies and agents — you are correct, we do. Any insurance business in this state first must be approved by the Commissioner, and companies and agents must meet rigorous standards before they receive a license to do that business. […]
We get powderpuff coverage like this about Goodwin skedaddling to NYC for a fundraiser. But where are the tough questions? I mean, the guy DOES brag that “any insurance business” in the state MUST come through him.
If our mainstream media had ANY integrity they’d be putting Goodwin and his actions / inaction re: O-Care under the microscope. I guess we’re going to have to wait for Gerrick Brenner and Chris Fitzsimon to give them permission.
Mr. Clifton, perhaps I have the answer for the question you posed. The answer is that apparently when our state lawmakers and Governor McCrory decided earlier this year to default to the federal government on all-things-Obamacare and not have a North Carolina-controlled health insurance exchange, and to seriously limit the work of the state on all matters pertaining to Obamacare, they essentially (whether they realized it or not) gutted a lot of Goodwin’s authority over Obamacare-related insurance policies. If North Carolina had stayed in control then it would have had a bull by the horns. And even on what lesser authority our Commissioner of Insurance still has on certain health insurance these days, it appears much of it is constrained by that federal law. I’ve seen plenty of news stories where Godwin has been adamant about preserving state regulation of insurance but his efforts have been squelched in a number of ways by our legislature, Congress and the Supreme Court as those institutions scrutinized O-care.
I was also just reminded today that insurance policies are private contracts between a private person and a private insurance company, and the private insurance company can choose to drop coverage and change rates so long as they’re supported by data and not prohibited by law.
As for DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos, her problems appear self-inflicted. Among a long list of examples, she’s hired a 24 year old as her top chief of health policy and she has rewarded him and others with grotesquely high salaries paid by us taxpayers.
My opinion is that your well-intentioned post does not take into consideration the above facts.
JP, Governor McCrory and North Carolina leaders did not default to anything!
Barry Soetoro, the illegal alien, and his White House cabal have no intention of allowing the states to run the healthcare insurance industry!