The Next Bubble To Burst

Last month, at Drinking Liberally, Nick Schweitzer and I got into a discussion, and made a gentleman's bet, about which would be the next economic bubble to burst.

Nick thought that the next bubble bursting would be the pension bubble, due to the severe economic times putting so much pressure on entities, mostly government bodies, to both meet the needs of the public they serve and honor their contract obligations with their workers.

I disagreed with Nick. Not that the pension issue couldn't be a big deal, but that I did not think that would be the next thing to burst. I argued that the next big thing would be health care.

My thinking is that health care is becoming so expensive people and companies wouldn't be able to afford it any longer, and whenever anyone got sick, they would be forced to chose between taking their chances on the illness or taking their chances in bankruptcy.

I remembered that bet last week when I wrote about insurance rates in California going up by as much as 39%.

Unfortunately, my bet seems to be an even surer thing now. Via Caffeinated Politics, we learn that insurance rates have now jumped in four states. In fact, things are getting so bad, that anti-TEA Party rallies are being planned:

Politicians and even some health insurers, including Anthem, are urging a revival of the stalled effort in Congress to overhaul the health care system, arguing everyone needs to be covered by health insurance in order to prevent such premium spikes.

In Maine, where Anthem dominates the market, its proposal has several consumer groups planning big rallies at two public hearings on the rates, on Feb. 22 and 24.

Under Anthem's proposal, a family of four could be charged up to $1,876 per month if the proposed rates are allowed to take effect in July.

"The rate request should be denied on its face. It's outrageous," said Greg Howard, spokesman for Maine Change That Works. "We are in the middle of ... this record-breaking type of recession, and they're doing what they need to guarantee profit margin."

Not only are these outrageous hikes killing people on an individual level, but it is the biggest culprit on why public sector employees are costing tax payers so much. Without some sort of responsible reform in the very near future, this could very conceivably send the nation further down the economic spiral that we're trying to climb out of.

What I can tell you is this is one bet I'm not looking forward to winning.