Hot, Hot, Hot

Eighteen days over 90 degrees in June, another eighteen already in July. Today its over 100. Very tough. Sitting by the air conditioner watching movies on Netflix.

Friday I went to a public meeting held by the National Association of Insuramce Commissioners on implementation of health care reform. Good, but a bit strange, to see old friends now that I'm on the other, other side--not the industry, but the Feds.

There is a lot of uncertainty and a fair amount od suspicion about how this law will be interpreted and how it will work in practice. Some of this is understandable, there are lots of provisions that are unclear and the regulations that will provide some clarity (and undoubtedly raise more questions) haven't all been issued. And of course there will be problems, both with the law and because the law doesn't address much of what is wrong with the health care system.

But there also seems to be a underlying lack of trust, or confidence, or maybe it's just fear of change. Even when the way things are going is bad, the devil you know seems better than the unknown one you can't see up ahead.

For those of us at the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight the feeling is quite different. We are creating something new, we have very little that "has always been done that way" or "isn't the way we do things here." We have an enormous amount to do, and very little time to do it, and much of it has never been done before. But we believe in what we're doing and in our ability to get it done.