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AMERICAN PITCHFORK'S DUPAYOSHAS OF THE WEEK

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A Fictional Retrospective From the Great Beyond

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Freely quote with attribution

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Dupayosh of the Week of September 13, 2010  Kathleen Sibelius née Gilligan

You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun. Al Capone

“Sebelius objects to claims by health insurers that they are raising premiums because of increased costs imposed by the Obamacare law passed by Congress last March . . . as Ignagni [private insurers’ lobbyist]. . .’It's a basic law of economics that additional benefits incur additional costs.’

“ ‘But Sebelius has 'zero tolerance’ for that kind of thing. She promises to issue regulations to require ‘state or federal review of all potentially unreasonable rate increases’ (which would presumably mean all rate increases).

“And there's a threat. ‘We will also keep track of insurers with a record of unjustified rate increases: those plans may be excluded from health insurance Exchanges in 2014.’

That's a significant date, the first year in which state insurance exchanges are slated to get a monopoly on the issuance of individual health insurance policies. Sebelius is threatening to put health insurers out of business in a substantial portion of the market if they state that Obamacare is boosting their costs.

" ‘Congress shall make no law,’ reads the First Amendment, ‘abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.’

“Sebelius' approach is different: ‘zero tolerance’ for dissent.

“The threat to use government regulation to destroy or harm someone's business because they disagree with government officials is thuggery. Like the Obama administration's transfer of money from Chrysler bondholders to its political allies in the United Auto Workers, it is a form of gangster government [a completed transfer nonetheless].

“Gangster Government Stifles Criticism of Obamacare” by Michael Barone, Townhall.com, 9/13/10