Free Republic

Retired Americans enrolled in Medicare's Part D prescription coverage could see their premiums increase by 42-57 percent in 2024, a new analysis by HealthView Services has found.Early indicators show significant cost hikes for retirees in the five states with the largest senior populations. This is different from an earlier report projecting slight premium declines across Part D plans next year.(zimmytws/Shutterstock)Major Discrepancy in Premium OutlooksThe HealthView report, published in November 2023, contrasts sharply with a July projection by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers the Medicare program, The CMS said there would be a 1.8...

As if carrying Homeowners insurance in California and Florida wasn’t already subject to ridiculous increases in premiums, things are about to get a lot worse. Effective with the July 1st notification, Reinsurance rates, these are companies who insure the insurance companies, are telling their clients there will be up to a 50% increase in cost for underwriting catastrophic coverage. Perhaps claims in the past few years have been higher; however, I suspect the issue amid the reinsurers is partly connected to the issue that surrounds banks and bond rates. Back when interest rates were near zero, banks and reinsurers likely...

Democrats are growing increasingly concerned that a spike in ObamaCare premiums could hit this fall right before the midterm elections. The party is already facing major headwinds from inflation and President Biden’s lagging approval ratings, and a health care premium spike would add a major blow.

It is a challenge for sports leagues across the world - if play can only resume in empty stadiums, how can the atmosphere be improved? However, not many clubs will be rushing to follow the example of FC Seoul. The top-flight South Korean side has apologised after fans accused them of using sex dolls in the stands. FC Seoul insisted they were "premium mannequins" rather than sex dolls - but did admit they came from a supplier that produces sex toys. And some of the dolls were holding signs advertising x-rated websites - despite pornography being banned in South Korea....

Section 1401(b) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act shall be replaced with: ‘‘(b) PREMIUM ASSISTANCE CREDIT AMOUNT.—For purposes of this section— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘premium assistance credit amount’ means, with respect to any taxable year, the sum of the premium assistance amounts determined under paragraph (2) with respect to all coverage months of the taxpayer occurring during the taxable year. ‘‘(2) PREMIUM ASSISTANCE AMOUNT.—The premium assistance amount determined under this subsection with respect to any coverage month is the amount equal to the lesser of— ‘‘(A) the monthly premiums for such month for 1 or more qualified...

If you had to pay $11/month for unlimited health care cost coverage, you might think health care costs aren't a problem. If you are a Democrat and had to pay $55/month for unlimited health care cost coverage, you might support efforts to rein in health care costs. I believe, effective January 1, 2020, Section 36B(b)(2)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 should read: ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE FOR TAXPAYERS UNDER 133 PERCENT OF POVERTY LINE.—If a taxpayer’s household income for the taxable year is in excess of 100 percent, but not more than 133 percent, of the poverty line for...

There are a lot of unpleasant numbers for Republicans in the Congressional Budget Office’s assessment of their health care bill. But congressional leadership found one to cheer: The report says that the bill will eventually cut the average insurance premiums for people who buy their own insurance by 10 percent. House Speaker Paul Ryan pressed that point in a series of appearances Monday night, suggesting that the budget office had found that the House bill would increase choice and competition and lead to lower prices. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, issued a statement saying, “The Congressional Budget Office agrees...

Barack Obama took a break from interfering in FBI investigations today to interfere with reality on ObamaCare. Speaking at a rally in Miami for Hillary Clinton, the president scoffed at Republican promises to repeal ObamaCare, and then insisted that most consumers won’t see premium increases in the exchanges at all. Mediate has the sound bite of that claim, but Obama’s string of nonsense should be read in context for full appreciation of his talents. Scalp micturation level … peak Lebowski, man: Obama - Only ‘ A Handful of People ’ Are Seeing Obamacare Premiums Go Up - 11/3/16 Can I...

Double-digit Obamacare premium hikes projected in 2017 may bode in Donald Trump’s favor, as several swing states are being impacted by double-digit increases under the law and consumers are expected to see the hikes around Nov. 1 — one week before heading to the polls. Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but Hillary Clinton has vowed to make the Obamacare exchanges work. Some say the way she would do that is through raising taxes.

I've just been notified by my long-term health care insurance program that they're increasing my monthly premium from $198 to $441 beginning in November due to "the severity of certain medical conditions, expected lifespans, returns on investment, and overall program expenses." The insurer is John Hancock Life & Health Insurance Company. I'll have to pay the full premium increase in order to keep my annual 5% benefit increase. Or I can pay "only" $318 per month and drop to a 3.9% annual benefit increase. Or I can retain the current premium and drop to a 2% annual benefit increase.

Remember how the last big increases in ObamaCare premiums took place last fall? Good times, good times. The Hill reports that insurers have begun warning that the financial model of ObamaCare remains unstable. Either they need to get approval from state regulators for another round of large premium increases, or they may bail out altogether. Even the pro-ObamaCare Kaiser Family Foundation says, “Something has to give”: Health insurance companies are amplifying their warnings about the financial sustainability of the ObamaCare marketplaces as they seek approval for premium increases next year.Insurers say they are losing money on their ObamaCare plans...

When insurance companies began discussing the necessary premium hikes for the third year of ObamaCare coverage, the White House was quick to dismiss the requests. State auditors would surely force insurers to admit that these requests were overblown. Barack Obama himself told a Nashville audience last month that he couldn’t see why insurers needed to hike premiums by more than a third in Tennessee, the Wall Street Journal recalls: At a July town hall in Nashville, Tenn., President Barack Obama played down fears of a spike in health insurance premiums in his signature health law’s third year.“My expectation is...

North Carolina's largest health insurer says high costs are forcing it to seek higher premium increases than expected. Two months ago, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said it wanted to raise rates by an average of almost 26 percent in January 2016. But now it's seeking an average 35 percent higher premium for insurance sold under Obamacare. North Carolina is not the only state facing steep raises. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation says dozens of health insurers across the country are increasing premiums well beyond 10 percent for next year.

The Obamacare "winning streak" continues apace. Kaiser Health News reports on the increasing likelihood of more and more large employers dumping employees into Obamacare's exchanges. An untold number of employees will discover that they can't keep their plan, especially if they're a high-risk, high-cost employee. The Obama administration estimated that as many as 93 million Americans will lose their existing coverage under the new law, despite what the president promised repeatedly. We wrote about "targeted dumping" back in 2011. Those concerns are now being realized:

The Congressional Budget Office released a report this morning that has received a lot of attention from ObamaCare’s many staunch media advocates because it essentially concludes that the cost of expanding coverage through the exchanges will be billions less than the CBO was predicting just a couple of months ago. That’s great news for the president’s crowning legislative achievement, right? Health-insurance premiums for plans sold on the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges will be lower than previously expected, according to a report released Monday by the Congressional Budget Office.The findings, by Congress’s nonpartisan spending analysts, result largely from the fact that...

Now that the first open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act is coming to a close, insurers say they are getting a better idea of what to expect next year — and that includes higher premiums.Early into ObamaCare's troubled launch — plagued with website problems, canceled plans, and numerous delays — several insurers were already warning that the rocky rollout would result in significantly higher premiums in 2015.Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini first raised concerns over a potential rate shock in December, when he told investors that "in some markets," individual-market premium increases "could go as high as 100 percent."Now,...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Tuesday sharply criticized what she called the Obama administration's "short-sighted, misguided and irresponsible" opposition to legislation delaying flood insurance premium increases for four years. Though the statement of administration policy didn't include a veto threat, Landrieu said the White House's position, "threatens the very foundation of the National Flood Insurance Program and will only saddle taxpayers with higher costs when disasters strike." Just before the White House policy statement was released the Senate voted 86-13 to begin debate on legislation that would delay most increases resulting from the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act so, sponsors say,...

Health-care reporters have been zeroed in lately on the 834 error rate, i.e. the rate of garbled or phantom enrollment data transmitted from Healthcare.gov to insurance companies as people sign up. WaPo claimed the other day that the rate is as high as one-third, but HHS, knowing a looming PR catastrophe when it sees one, has refused to give reporters a hard number. The media’s focus on that is all to the good — the higher the 834 error rate, the more chaos there’ll be next month in sorting out the big surge of applications in December — but there’s...

Across North Carolina, thousands of people have been shocked in recent weeks to find out their health insurance plans will be canceled at the end of the year – and premiums for comparable coverage could increase sharply. One of them is George Schwab of Charlotte, who pays $228 a month for his family’s $10,000 deductible plan from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. In a Sept. 23 letter, Blue Cross notified him that his current plan doesn’t meet benefit requirements outlined in the Affordable Care Act and suggested a comparable plan for $1,208 a month – $980 more...

For months now, we’ve been waiting to hear how much Obamacare will drive up the cost of health insurance for people who purchase coverage on their own. Last night, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finally began to provide some data on how Americans will fare on Obamacare’s federally-sponsored insurance exchanges. HHS’ press release is full of happy talk about how premiums will be “lower than originally expected.” But the reality is starkly different. Based on a Manhattan Institute analysis of the HHS numbers, Obamacare will increase underlying insurance rates for younger men by an average of 97...