(Sorry… Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!)

Via Ed at Hot Air we find the Washington Post reporting the the law of unintended consequences is striking right and left on the health insurance reform front. The latest “revelation” (which won’t come as any surprise to the people who have been paying attention) is provided by accounting giant PriceWaterhouse Coopers, who reveal the shocking news that if the government begins dumping huge new taxes and fees on the insurance industry while reducing their customer base, rather than simply operating at a loss, they will wind up increasing the premiums they charge to families with existing coverage.

After months of collaboration on President Obama’s attempt to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected.

The critique, coming one day before a critical Senate committee vote on the legislation, sparked a sharp response from the Obama administration. It also signaled an end to the fragile detente between two central players in this year’s health-care reform drama.

And what was the sharp response from the White House? Why, they quickly pointed out that “those guys” are a group of people outside of their area of expertise who “specialize in tax shelters.”

I see. So if you want to know about the final tab in a financial problem or how health insurance policies work, clearly the last people you’d want to talk to would be health insurance professionals or accountants. Brilliant!

Should something like the Baucus plan be passed – whether or not that tack on a disastrous “public option” in the consolidation process – the real pain and costs won’t be fully felt for several years, since everything is spaced out over such a broad period of time to hide the full impact. But those effects will come. And when they do, all of the plan’s supporters will find out what their efforts have wrought when the bill comes due… and it shows up in their own mailboxes.