TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Massachusetts is taking $100 million from “wealthy” hospitals to reduce insurance premiums for small businesses:

Wealthier hospitals would be required to make a one-time $100 million contribution to ease insurance premiums for smaller businesses under a bill approved Tuesday by the state Senate.

Calling this a “contribution” is disturbingly Orwellian. It is forcibly taking from one group and giving to another. There is nothing voluntary about that.

This also shows just how idiotic Massachusetts’s healthcare reform, and by extension, the Democrats’ healthcare reform, is. It was supposed to reduce healthcare costs, but instead it has done the opposite. Now, because their “reforms” failed, the state government is seeking to “reduce” costs by controlling insurance premiums:

Under the bill, health insurers would have to file rate increases with the Division of Insurance three months before they are set to take effect. The division would be required to review the rates to see if proposed increases are reasonable.

That would be a grand idea if the problem was price gouging by insurance companies (it isn’t). The problem is real, hard healthcare costs for providers. Authoritarians, who support measures like this, either can’t grasp that simple concept (and would rather believe it must be the result of nefarious businesses screwing people), or do recognize it but find it convenient for the advancement of their political agenda of government control to stay publicly oblivious to it. After all, when you have a scapegoat, it’s much easier to gain more government control. They’ve learned their history well in that regard.