More small companies in Massachusetts are dropping insurance coverage for their employees rather than pay higher premiums. This means Massachusetts taxpayers will pay more to subsidize insurance coverage for more people while the Massachusetts state government limits what insurance companies can do and how people in Massachusetts get care.

In New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, meanwhile, companies looking to save money are taking policies that prevent individuals from seeing some health care providers — what one person calls “Gucci doctors”.

It’s not clear if the subsidized Massachusetts plans will meet federal rules for health insurance (or if those who don’t qualify for subsidies are even buying insurance). The choice-limited plans will not. Because all of these changes are happening after President Obama signed the health care law, none of them are safe from federal regulations.

Jonathan “Pyrrhus” Cohn claims that both of these scenarios are actually good news about the health care law. You see, don’t you? how companies dropping coverage because it is too expensive under RomneyCare sets a great precedent for the future of health insurance under ObamaCare.