One of the reasons that Rhode Islanders may seem to suffer slightly less than other states under the mandate-heavy ObamaCare law is because … well, we’ve already been suffering: the Rhode Island General Assembly has heaped the most number of health insurance mandates on us. “On us” because, contrary to the muddled thinking of too many in the G.A. and on Smith Hill, the cost of those mandates were not absorbed by the eeeeevil insurance companies but simply passed along to subscribers, largely in the form of high premiums.

In one of its many erroneous ratings that seriously mis-serve the public, a year ago, PolitiFactRI ruled that the statement by the R.I. Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s Mike Stenhouse that Rhode Island has the highest number of health insurance mandates as “Half True”.

It isn’t just that Mike Stenhouse was wholly right and PolitiFactRI’s rating was wrong. Rhode Island does, indeed, have the highest number of health insurance mandates, which is what has made health insurance premiums so expensive in the state. It’s that PolitiFactRI’s rebuttal, their “proof”, that Mike was “half right” came from a source that is very far from objective: the company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of R.I., has a monopoly on individual coverage in the state and shares a bi-opoly (well, okay, Blue Cross, United and Tufts-tufts too) on all the other coverage. This is a juicy chunk of business to have.

Further and more importantly, Blue Cross owes its very existence to the same body, the Rhode Island General Assembly, that put in place all of those health insurance mandates.

Thanks, PolitiFactRI, but we’ll take the analytical word of out-of-state organizations that have no axe to grind over the Rhode Island company that has an existential motive to refrain from criticizing its legislative maker.

By the way, since this erroneous rating by PolitiFactRI, we have racked up yet another “win”; Rhode Island was ranked as having the most number of health insurance mandates for 2012. Below are the links with our dubious rankings for the three most recent years.

2012

2011

2010

[Monique is editor of the RI Taxpayer Times newsletter and spokesperson for R.I. Taxpayers. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the organization.]