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Health Reform: A year ago, we were told with great certainty that ObamaCare critics had it all wrong when they warned about coming premium rate shocks. Then came the eye-popping rate requests for next year.

Back in 2009, when Congress was debating the Affordable Care Act, many liberal Democrats felt it did not go far enough — that it should be even more sweeping, even more expansive, even more costly. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, one of the Senate's most liberal Democrats and a veteran of many legislative battles, urged his colleagues on the Left to go ahead and pass the bill. "The key to this is that this modest home, we can put additions onto it in the future," Harkin told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in December 2009. "But if we don't have the starter home, we're...

The “Affordable” Care Act may be looking for a new name in the near future. As Fox News and the Wall Street Journal are reporting, the next round of health care premium cost adjustments are coming down the pike, and you’ll never guess where things are heading. Okay… you probably guessed already. The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Obamacare rates are about to shoot up, in some cases as much as 40%. The rate increases requested by insurance carriers vary state by state, but the overall picture is bad.“In New Mexico, market leader Health Care Service Corp....

Dear XXXXXXX: Thank you for taking the time to contact me about health insurance premiums and the Affordable Care Act. I appreciate hearing from you about this issue. Over the next several years, the Affordable Care Act will extend health insurance coverage to an additional 30 million Americans, ensuring that 95 percent of our Nation has access to quality, affordable care. I recognize that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect, and that some changes may need to be made. However, I believe that this law reflects our Nation’s commitment to ensuring access to health care for all Americans. One...

Obamacare exchange customers could see a significant spike in their premiums over the next few years as insurers face pressures from both the government and the marketplace, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday in a new analysis finding Obamacare is both cheaper and less comprehensive than predicted. The CBO said the exchanges and other new medical coverage under the Affordable Care Act will cost the government slightly more than half a trillion dollars over the next five years, which is about $200 billion less than than the $710 billion projected when the law was enacted in 2010. Some of that...

We just finished enrolling our family in the healthcare plan provided by my wife's employer. The deductible is $3000 per individual and $6000 for family. Our oldest son, who works for a private company, has also been put on our plan because he could not afford to pay the health exchange prices nor his employer's healthcare plan. My wife was paying about $450 per month on the healthcare premiums to cover the family. Now, we are suddenly going to be paying $650 per month and there are NO choices - just one plan from which everyone can choose. It only...

As more and more people are bounced out of health insurance plans they liked, Health and Human Services Regional Director Joanne Grossie insisted on calling the cancellations “invitations to obtain better plans.” “A lot of times people will lapse into being satisfied with an inferior product or service out of pure inertia,” Grossie maintained. “By outlawing substandard policies the Affordable Care Act forces people to upgrade to better plans.” Grossie rejected the idea that a person might genuinely prefer a so-called substandard policy. “A single man might think he has no need to pay for coverage of gynecological services, maternity...

Covering pre-existing conditions and ‘essential benefits’ raising insurance plan costsThe Affordable Care Act was supposed to make health care more affordable, but a newly released study of insurance policies before and after Obamacare shows that average premiums have skyrocketed, for some groups by as much as 78 percent. Average insurance premiums in the sought-after 23-year-old demographic rose most dramatically, with men in that age group seeing an average 78.2 percent price increase before factoring in government subsidies, and women having their premiums rise 44.9 percent, according to a report by HealthPocket scheduled for release Wednesday. The study, which was shared...

The Obama administration has already debuted its new, improved version of HealthCare.gov, but still won’t release premium rates on the website until after the Nov. 4 elections

I’m beginning to think that Obama doesn’t actually have any speech writers or talking-point authors… He’s just recycling the set of talking points he was handed in the first four years of his tenure. During a recent Q&A session at a campaign event in Princeton Indiana, the President trotted out the tried-and-failed talking points of 2012 to defend his signature healthcare law. According to the Free Beacon:“We are seeing almost a double-digit increase in health-care costs every year,” General Manager Mihir Paranjape said. “Do you think that trend is going to go down, and what can we do to control that...

The bad news in California: If you liked your plan and/or your doctor, many of you couldn’t keep either if you had an individual-market plan. The worse news in California: If you liked your premiums, you definitely couldn’t keep those. In the first year of ObamaCare, premiums rose in the Golden State anywhere from 22% to 88% from the previous year — even as insurer networks narrowed so much that consumers had a tough time finding a provider at all: The cost of health insurance for individuals skyrocketed this year in California, with some paying almost twice what they...

It’s been almost one year since Minnesota rolled out its state version of Obamacare, called MNsure. How is this experiment with government-run health care working? Let’s start with the basic fact that Minnesota’s health care is second to none. Before MNsure, close to 97 percent of Minnesotans had health insurance coverage or were eligible to procure it at very low or no cost. This was among the highest percentage of insured people in the nation. Some $160 million in taxpayer money has been spent to launch MNsure, and we are no better off today. The state had two unique programs:...

The head of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans gave a hint of what might come soon to those who pay for health insurance coverage through MNsure, Minnesota's health care exchange. Julie Brunner is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, which is the professional association for the HMOs that offer health coverage through MNsure. Brunner recently told a University of Minnesota symposium that she would "not be surprised if the health plans increased their rates by 8, 10, or even 12 percent." Gov. Mark Dayton tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he would be disappointed by such a...

States are now releasing their preliminary 2015 Obamacare premiums, which means price hikes could become another negative talking point right before the midterm elections. The difference between now and previous moments of bad health care PR is that Democrats insist they're getting ahead of it this time. But even then, there are a number of other issues coming up: the left's increasing aversion to the employer mandate, questions about how young and healthy this year's enrollees are and, as always, whether the Affordable Care Act is actually affordable. As Politico noted Monday, the White House's "internal health care enrollment outreach...

Insurance companies operating in New York State's marketplace are expected to ask for double-digit premium hikes next year, according to new filings from the companies. Capital New York reports the average requested increase was 13%. The New York Post reports that number at about 12%. But the bigger insurers are seeking a bigger premium hike — according to Capital, the six most popular plans in New York are requesting an average increase of almost 15%. The Post reports that Excellus Health Plan, which has about 24,000 customers, is requesting a 19.7% hike. MVP Health Plan, which has nearly 33,000 customers,...

Most people who signed up under President Barack Obama’s health care law rate their new insurance highly, but a substantial number are struggling with the cost, according to a poll released Thursday. The survey from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation provides findings that both sides in the health care debate can seize on. It’s an ambitious look at people who buy their coverage individually; they’re the ones most affected by the Affordable Care Act. […] Despite the availability of generous subsidies, 4 in 10 of those who bought a plan that meets the law’s specifications said they had difficulty paying...

The Americans who qualify for tax credits through the new federal insurance exchange are paying an average of $82 a month in premiums for their coverage — about one-fourth the bill they would have faced without such financial help, according to a new government analysis. But the analysis shows wide variations among states in the premiums that people are paying for their new insurance, the amount the government is picking up and the proportion who qualify for the subsidies. The 28-page report, by the Department of Health and Human Services, is the government’s first effort to gauge the affordability and...

Yesterday I noted that the Obama administration snuck the mechanism and $3.5 billion in funding for an insurer bailout, bypassing Congress and wheedling insurance companies to keep 2015 premiums low. The Hill’s report on the announcement dates for rate hikes explains the timing of this effort. Thirteen states will announce the newly approved rate plans for 2015 — including a handful of those Democrats desperately need to keep in the midterms: Premiums are expected to go up in a majority of states, as they do every year, but the size of the increases could go a long way toward...

And you know what that means: No money, no coverage, which means the widely touted figure of eight million enrollments that Barack “Mission Accomplished” Obama’s been pushing lately is flatly bogus. Anyone who hasn’t paid by the end of the grace period offered by their insurer — and some of those grace periods were undoubtedly extended beyond April 15th, the cut-off date for this analysis — will be tossed from the rolls.The figure that’s been cited for months on payment rates is 80 percent. The Energy and Commerce Committee claims it’s actually significantly lower, at least when it comes to...

Betsy McCaughey, who knows as much about Obamacare as anyone who wasn’t involved in writing it, offers a preview of the new disasters about to unfold as the health care law kicks in. If the law were a disaster film, her article could serve as the trailer for part 2.She expects a wave of premium defaults, and explains why even the AMA, a big proponent of the law, is worried: First-time insurance purchasers, especially those living paycheck to paycheck, will be shocked by ObamaCare’s high deductibles, about $3,000 for the silver plan (the most commonly selected) and $5,000 for the...