Sebelius to Insurers: Shut Up About Obamacare

If you don't, she'll cut you out of the Obamacare pie:

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.

So, the much lauded First Amendment that tells us we can build a mosque at Ground Zero, be gay and in the military at the same time, and open a tattoo parlor in Hermosa Beach, doesn't apply to insurers who wish to be critical of Obamacare or tell their customers how it's affecting their rates.

That's a pretty messed up First Amendment we've got these days.