Kathleen Sebelius would like you to mind your 1st amendment Ps and Qs

Get to meet your minders:

President Barack Obama's top health official on Thursday warned the insurance industry that the administration won't tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law.

"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to the insurance lobby.

"Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide consumers with basic protections," Sebelius said. She warned that bad actors may be excluded from new health insurance markets that will open in 2014 under the law. They'd lose out on a big pool of customers, as many as 30 million people nationwide.

Un-freaking real. Heckuva choice back in '08, America.

Anyone now opposed to our use of the term regime or thugs when talking about this crew?

"Health insurance premiums are increasing because of soaring prices for medical services, the impact of younger and healthier people dropping their insurance during the weak economy, and additional benefits required under the new law," said Karen Ignagni, president of the insurers' trade group. "It's a basic law of economics that additional benefits incur additional costs."

Sebelius asked Ignagni to help stop "misinformation and scare tactics."

Although the law's big expansion of coverage under the law won't take place until 2014, several new benefits go into effect starting later this month. Lifetime dollar caps on coverage are abolished, and plans must allow parents to keep their children on the policy up to age 26. Many plans will also have to guarantee coverage for children regardless of a medical condition, and provide preventive care with no cost-sharing for the patient.

Precisely what is it about a raft of mandatory new requirments like the totally non-comprehensive list in the paragraph above does Sebelius think will bring down the cost of healthcare?

We suppose, though, that Sebelius merely "asked" Ignagni rather than employing largely unveiled threats is a victory for free speech and democracy as a whole.

How completely freaked-out do you think the regime is regarding their prospects in November and the unruly nature of the electorate with respect to ObamaCare that their true authoriatarian ways are manifested as done so by Sebelius?

From our little perch here at BwD we look forward to continuing to be a thorn in the side of the regime and giving a voice to the ungovernable.