Insurance Space

The Senate approved President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul on Thursday, backing sweeping changes in the medical insurance market and new coverage for tens of millions of uninsured Americans.

On a party-line 60-39 vote, Senate Democrats supported the most dramatic shifts in health policy in four decades. The early-morning Christmas Eve vote followed months of political wrangling that consumed the Congress and put a dent in Obama’s public approval ratings.

“This is a victory for the American people,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters afterward.

What’s being done in Michigan, you ask, to attract and retain insurance companies and jobs?

Sadly, in a batch of so-called auto insurance reform bills kicking around Lansing, some politicians are playing the tired old game of demonizing insurance companies as villains out to gouge the people in pursuit of nasty profits. The bills propose new layers of regulatory red tape and further government intrusion into rate-setting, hardly the message Michigan should be sending to foster new business and job creation.