In an interview with Modern Healthcare, Wellpoint CEO Joseph Swedish shored up a March 19 report from The Hill’s Elise Viebeck that Obamacare premiums are set to double in some parts of the country. If you recall, Viebeck received a barrage of criticism from left-wing media outlets accusing her of citing phantom sources in the health care industry and creating a "panic." Ironically, in his attack on Viebeck, Ed Kilgore, senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute and contributor at the Washington Monthly, cited Swedish as one of several health company CEO’s contradicting the author's assertion that Obamacare premiums would skyrocket next year. Kilgore: And the “premiums to skyrocket” claim directly contradicts a variety of on-the-record assessments by health insurance executives—e.g., Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Wellpoint president Joe Swedish, and Cigna CEO David Cordani—that the Obamacare premium structure...(Read Full Post)