Insurers are their own worst enemy. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot! The latest example is how they've handed their foes on health insurance reform fresh ammunition, right after President Obama and his allies were left shooting blanks.

Indeed, just when the health insurance reform movement was dead in the water, the industry itself breathed new life into the effort and provided a painful reminder of why comprehensive changes are needed.

For awhile now, it seemed obvious that reformers in Congress and the White House were spending too much time talking about the problems facing those without coverage, without considering the concerns of those fortunate enough to have health insurance.

So what do health insurers do? They send rates for individual buyers skyrocketing. The poster child in this situation is Wellpoint's Anthem Blue Cross of California, which announced premium hikes of up to 39 percent.

The White House immediately pounced on the opportunity to announce that President Obama will call for new federal powers to block “excessive” rate increases by health insurers.

This call came just days before the President was to convene a televised discussion with both congressional Democrats and Republicans on health reform, with the gut-wrenching premium hikes on individual policyholders destined to be Exhibit A in the call for regulatory changes.

Insurers tried to explain that the cost to cover individuals is going through the roof–mainly because healthy Americans who have hit hard times in this deep recession are dropping coverage, while those who are ill or prone to medical problems are hanging onto their insurance if at all possible, thereby skewing the risk pool.

But you can expect such excuses to fall on deaf ears in Washington. Frankly, I would not want to be a Republican defending an insurer's right to hike a person's health premiums by 39 percent in these horrendous economic times, especially with the kinds of profits carriers have been reporting.

President Obama has Republicans right where he wants them–forced to either side with the “evil” insurance industry, or meet him halfway with some “reasonable” health insurance reforms. If Republicans stubbornly fail to meet this challenge, the momentum of the upcoming midterm elections could shift back in the Democrats' favor.

President Obama did not call for federal authority to regulate what doctors, hospitals and drug manufacturers charge for their services and products–even though soaring health care costs is primarily what's driving insurance premiums ever upwards.

But that's not the point, thanks to the headlines screaming about profiteering insurers. That is simply bad reputational risk management.

Insurers should have been holding press conferences and putting out white papers and blitzing the airways with advertisements to set the stage for the hikes to come.

Plus, their timing is just awful. Perhaps the increases could have been introduced in stages, with the carriers going to great lengths to point out how they are taking a short-term hit in the interest of their customers.

Instead, they merely assembled once again with their eyes closed to the world around them, forming a circular firing squad and blasting away at what's left of their battered reputation.

What do you folks think will come of this?