What's going on in Massachusetts with Healthcare?

The stand-off between Massachusetts regulators and health insurance companies intensified today as most insurers stopped offering new coverage to small businesses and individuals while state officials demanded that the insurers post updated rates online and resume selling such policies by the end of the week.

Insurers, however, said they could not calculate new rates until a state Superior Court judge rules on their request for an injunction that would prevent the state from continuing to block increases for the coverage period that started April 1. The case is expected to go before a judge in Boston as early as Thursday.

"We're in limbo until the issue gets resolved," said Lora Pellegrini, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, a trade group representing most of the state's insurance companies. "There are no approved rates in the market right now. You're seeing the first sign of the kind of market chaos we were worried about."