Posted on 11/14/2015 8:38:09 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
It is time to come to grips with the inevitable health insurance price increases being caused by the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) known as "Obamacare."
Obamacare's short-term sweeteners and phase-ins are behind us, and the fundamentally flawed structure of Obamacare and its true costs are exposed. The result: substantially increasing individual and small-group health insurance prices.
Given the mandates required by the ACA law, these are not likely to recede any time soon.
In Minnesota, small-group prices skyrocketed by up to 94 percent in 2014. Individual plans are up by an average 31 percent, and up to 60 percent in 2016, according to the Commerce Department. Minnesota insurance companies providing individual policies have already lost over $394 million since the implementation of Obamacare. They have no choice but to increase premiums to cover increased costs of care.
Why is this happening?
Think about it. If someone asked you to pay for all their future health care in exchange for a fixed monthly price, wouldn't you want to know what you would be liable for so you could set the appropriate price? What if you were required to pay their claims, but they were not responsible to continue paying you once you had paid out your part of the deal? You would lose big, just as the nation's insurance carriers have.
Obamacare tells health insurers it is illegal to ask health questions before providing insurance and illegal to deny claims for those who apply for insurance after the conditions occur, including for all future claims as well. Incentives for healthier behavior and better consumer decision-making are eliminated. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Whites hardest hit. Who obeys the stupid laws more than any other group? we’re getting reamed to pay for everyone else.
F the insurance companies..they went all in for Obama
Well we’ll see how the Rep candidates play this hand that has been given them.
I’m not holding my breath.
The Obamacare penalty is a bargain compared to Obamacare insurance.
Yup. Its $695 this year and for most people that’s a lot cheaper than Obamacare.
Yeah, they have health insurance but can’t afford to get healthcare.
It has served the purpose of getting many off of employer provided health insurance and wrecking the old system. The easy fix will be to put everyone on Medicare (single payer).
It used to really upset me, but now I just class it with all the other taxes.
Yes, the deductibles are so high that you are paying for insurance without having insurance.
Pretty much.
Not only are the deductibles higher, but the requirements for co-pay demand the deductibles be met (where that wasn’t once necessary.)
Might make sense for the average family to stuff away $12k for deductibles and go with a catastrophic policy.
“Obamacare’s short-term sweeteners and phase-ins are behind us, and the fundamentally flawed structure of Obamacare and its true costs are exposed. The result: substantially increasing individual and small-group health insurance prices.”
All with a gun to your head.
“Yes, the deductibles are so high that you are paying for insurance without having insurance.”
The idea was to pay for Medicaid for the parasites. Nothing more.
“Might make sense for the average family to stuff away $12k for deductibles and go with a catastrophic policy.”
Aren’t those illegal now?
Health insurance companies are hardcore Democrat organizations.
Remember that when you’re told taxpayers must pay to bail these bozos out.
The Missus works in the title insurance industry, and it is through her coverage that I am insured. She worked for 10 years, until late 2014 for one Houston based firm (~12,000 employees) then for the first 11 months of this year has been with a larger firm in that industry, based in CA, with 22,000 employees.
I assume that firms with that many employees are getting the best rates for their employee coverage, because with pools that large, insurers can more accurately predict their costs. That is my assumption, based on being covered as an adult under a variety of plans over the last 30 years, mostly from my own employment.
In the last 2 years there have been significant increases in monthly premiums, and absurdly large increases in deductibles. So many pharmaceutical categories that were formerly covered are either only slightly defrayed, or not at all. One monthly prescription I was taking went from $0 copay to $487/month at the beginning of this year, which was the full retail price with no contribution from the insurance plan.
I don’t have to be an insurance industry insider to see what this is about. Obamacare’s genius was the difference between what it really was and what it could be portrayed as for political support and acceptance (which it achieved by the skin of its teeth.) The massive amounts of subsidies needed to expand coverage to the formerly uninsured are effectively being accomplished though tax subsidies and a re-shaping of traditional coverage, which through the labyrinth process of Obamacare is resulting in these shocking changes in total expenses. I speak with a lot of older employees who are not yet on Medicare, and they are all seeing the same complex pattern of changes, which uniformly results in much higher total health insurance expenses (premiums and out of pocket costs.)
It’s to the point where I think that Obamacare’s architects cynically designed in this result, to generate frustration that will ultimately build a plurality political consensus for single payer.
Totally unexpected. Someone should have warned them this would happen. /s
From 0 to $487 a month on one prescription! Wow!
I agree that the big companies must get the best rates, but they must also be contributing to the subsidies in some way, which I’m not up on.
If you’re in good health, you just have to hope you continue to be so, until you reach age 65 and qualify for Medicare. Part A, for which retirees pay no premium, is enough to avoid the Obamacare penalty. Parts B and D cost a monthly premium to retirees. So in any event, hit age 65 and go on Medicare Part A will at least save you the Obamacare penalty.
I know the liberals wanted single-payer, but whether they designed Obamacare to fail in order to get there, or whether they really thought Obamacare was an improvement over the previous system, I don’t know.
I never underestimate the arrogance of unqualified liberals to think they can do something better than the despised private sector.
The “wildly popular” cost explosion.
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