Key feature of WH's new ObamaCare bill: Capping rate hikes

By focusing on the effort to tighten regulation of insurance costs, a new element not included in either the House or Senate bills, Mr. Obama is seizing on outrage over recent premium increases of up to 39 percent announced by Anthem Blue Cross of California and moving to portray the Democrats’ health overhaul as a way to protect Americans from predatory insurers…

The president’s new provision seemed to offer Republicans an opening for a new line of criticism — that Mr. Obama and Democrats are anticipating the possibility of hefty price increases for health insurance even after their big legislation is adopted…

The president’s bill would grant the federal health and human services secretary new authority to review, and to block, premium increases by private insurers, potentially superseding state insurance regulators. The bill would create a new Health Insurance Rate Authority, comprised of health industry experts that would issue an annual report setting the parameters for reasonable rate increases based on conditions in the market…

But it is unclear if the new powers or the rate board would have much long-term impact. The Democrats’ legislation ultimately seeks to sharply curtail the existing individual insurance market in which companies like Anthem Blue Cross now sell their policies.

Instead, such policies would be heavily regulated by the federal government and sold through new insurance exchanges, where consumers could compare prices and benefits packages and choose policies that best first their needs.