It's started: Obama's takeover of our health care

This is the lead paragraph in a recent NY Times article:

"The Obama administration said Thursday that rate increases sought by a health insurance company were unreasonable, and it ordered the insurer to rescind them or justify its refusal to do so."

So there you have it - the federal takeover of your health care.  Listen to Obama's Cabinet member sound off:

"“It’s time for Trustmark to immediately rescind the rates, issue refunds to consumers or publicly explain their refusal to do so,” Ms. Sebelius said, wielding power granted by the new health care law."

Don Beaudreux at Cafe Hayek doesn't like it any more than me and is much more articulate:

"What to say? U.S. Government officials are demanding that private business people “justify” their business decisions. People unfamiliar with the concept of competition as a discovery procedure – people unaware of the complexity of emergent orders – people unconcerned about concentrated, arbitrary power wielded by worthies in Washington – people unfazed by the arrogance of a bureaucrat presuming to know that some proposed price-hike is to large, but who also cowardly refuses to put her money where her mouth is by opening up a competing insurance company – people unmoved by the prospect of private entrepreneurs and business people having to beg the permission of mandarins on the Potomac in order to conduct business – people unsuspecting that such power can easily be abused to punish politically inconvenient firms and to assist political allies – such people will find nothing frightening about the quoted paragraph."

For now, all the Obama people can do is holler, and push and shove politically and try to embarrass the company:

"Mr. Obama unsuccessfully sought the power to block rate increases deemed unreasonable, a power that some states have. Even without that authority, administration officials said, their ability to challenge and publicize large increases provides a significant new protection for consumers."

Better believe they'll be going after that authority again.