Free Republic

U.S. health insurance premiums have climbed faster than wages and inflation this year, and look poised to accelerate in 2013, adding to voter concerns about soaring healthcare costs ahead of November elections for the White House and Congress. A study released on Tuesday showed that premiums for employer-sponsored health plans, which cover about 149 million Americans, grew a modest 4 percent to $15,745 in 2012. It was a substantially slower rate of growth than in past years, including 2011, when premiums jumped 9 percent. But the study's authors at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational...

RALEIGH, N.C. — The University of North Carolina system requires all students to have health insurance coverage, but the cost of a plan the system offers has more than doubled in two years. The insurance requirement started in 2010, and about one-third of students on the system's 16 university campuses buy their policy through UNC's provider, New York-based insurer Chartis. The rest of the students have other coverage, usually through their parents. The average cost of the Chartis policy started at $695 a year, but it rose to $847 last year. Tuition bills that are now arriving in student mailboxes...

Fox News - Under the law, the benefits package must include such fundamentals as inpatient and outpatient care, emergency services, maternity and childhood care, prescription drugs, preventive screenings and labs. It must cover mental health and substance abuse treatment, as well as rehabilitation for physical and cognitive disorders. Such add-ons are often not fully covered by frugal plans that are now the best that many small businesses can afford. Oh, you're gonna pay. But what? $500 a month per person? $750? $1000? I've looked everywhere and can't find any prices attached to Hussein's grand scheme. Sure it was a huge...

Spotlight back on healthcare lawBy Julian Pecquet and Sam Baker - 09/27/11 09:00 PM ET Health insurance premiums surged 9 percent in 2011, according to a report released Tuesday that raised new doubts about President Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment. Republicans seized on the annual Kaiser Family Foundation survey, arguing it flew in the face of Obama’s campaign promise that healthcare reform would lead to lower insurance costs. Instead, the Senate Republican Policy Committee calculated, average family premiums have increased by $2,213 so far under the administration. The report was released a day after the Department of Justice decided against asking...

White House plays defense after report finds healthcare premiums on the riseBy Julian Pecquet - 09/27/11 11:33 AM ET The Obama administration quickly responded Tuesday to bad news about rising insurance premiums with a strong defense of the healthcare law and its benefits for consumers. An annual survey of premiums found that the premiums for employer-provided family plans increased by 9 percent — to $15,073 — in 2011, leaving Democrats vulnerable to charges that the law isn't working. The administration proactively responded with a post on the White House blog that went up as soon as the embargo on the...

So, Ohio, how do you like President Obama now that you have had 2 1/2 years of him in the Oval Office? The Buckeye State turned blue for him in 2008, as the majority of voters bought into his mantras of hope and change and yes we can. The centerpiece of his domestic policy is Obamacare and now a new study shows that 790,000 Ohioans will lose their private health insurance and premiums will rise 55%-85% when Obamacare takes full effect in 2014.

Health law likely to send premiums through roof, state saysBy Catherine Candisky The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday September 21, 2011 4:12 AM A new report projects that the cost of health-insurance premiums in Ohio could increase by as much as 150 percent — or drop by 40 percent — in 2014, when key provisions of the new federal health-care law kick in. The analysis was commissioned by the Ohio Department of Insurance to determine how the Affordable Care Act would affect premiums. It found that Ohioans who buy individual policies would have their costs rise the most. Rates also are expected...

Most Americans Still Have No Idea What the Health Care Law DoesNona Willis Aronowitz - Associate Editor August 29, 2011 • 3:00 pm PDT It's now been more than a year since President Obama signed the much-debated—and much-maligned—Affordable Care Act, and even longer since the details of the bill dominated the airwaves. It seems all that time has taken a toll on our memories. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the number of Americans who understand what's in the health care bill is declining. The Hill points out that last summer, 72 percent of people polled...

There surely has been no shortage of special favors for labor unions under ObamaCare. But it increasingly appears that the ObamaCare waivers doled out by the Dept. of Health and Human Services are not among them. While this had long been a contention of conservatives (including Capital Hill) given the seemingly disproportionate number of waivers that went to unions, two new pieces of evidence strongly suggest that political favoritism is not playing a role.

A funny thing happened on the way to trying to figure out when a cost-control provision of the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) would be triggered. I discovered that virtually no one understands what the law means or how premium subsidies will grow over time — and it’s a near certainty that the confusion extends to the members of Congress who voted for it. Clearly, very few people are aware that Democrats tucked a cost-control provision into the final reconciliation act that would gradually shift a greater burden of premium payments to individuals.

If the health care law survives the current legal and political attacks, it will soon come up against the law of economics. Initially, individuals buying insurance via exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) will get subsidies that rise in line with premium cost growth. But, starting in 2019, individuals would have to shoulder an ever-greater share of premiums as cost curbs kick in if subsidies top 0.5% of GDP, as the Congressional Budget Office projects.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Workers at a circuit-board factory here just saw their health insurance premiums rise 20 percent. At Buddy Zaremba’s print shop nearby, the increase was 37 percent. And for engineers at the Woodland Design Group, they rose 43 percent. The new federal health care law may eventually “bend the cost curve” downward, as proponents argue. But for now, at many workplaces here, the rising cost of health care is prompting insurance premiums to skyrocket while coverage is shrinking. As Congress continues to debate the new health care law, health insurance costs are still rising, particularly for small businesses....

Regulatory uncertainty” is supposed to mean that businesses are reluctant to make investments because they are uncertain about what new regulations government will issue. With all the new health care and financial regulations coming out in the next year, there is a lot of lingering uncertainty. One thing government is not supposed to do is make uncertainty part of the regulation. Apparently Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Dept. of Health and Human Services failed to get that memo.

Many employees are receiving notices this month that their contribution to their health insurance premiums is increasing. But that’s not all they’re getting from the Democratic Congress: They can also expect higher tax withholding beginning January 1, thanks to the decision Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi made to leave town without voting on whether to let tax rates rise: Employers in the U.S. are starting to warn their workers to prepare for slimmer paychecks if Congress fails to vote on an extension of Bush-era tax cuts. “I’ve been doing payroll for probably close to 30 years now, and never have...

Over at the New Republic Jonathan Cohn is dismissing the Republicans’ efforts at repealing ObamaCare as “not serious.” In one post, he claims the following: It will force a lot of people to pay higher premiums. It will lavish subsidies on the private insurance industry. It will put life-and-death decisions in the hands of bureaucrats. And it will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the federal debt. No, I am not talking about the health care reform law. I’m talking about the Republican proposals to repeal it. Actually, he is talking about the health care reform law.

WASHINGTON – Letting young adults stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 will nudge premiums nearly 1 percent higher for employer plans, the government said in an estimate released Monday...

The attacks on insurance companies continue this morning, with Matt Drudge linking to the “Healthcare overhaul won’t stop premium increases” story at the Lost Angeles Times. Not once – not once – does the Times look into why the premiums are increasing. Free Republic readers are more likely to research this question, but will anybody in the main stream media research where 95 percent of premium increases come from? Learn more by reading the full post.

Young people will need to carry more of the burden of health care under the new health overhaul law. The new law limits an industry practice of charging older customers more.

CHICAGO (AP) - Health insurance premiums for young adults are expected to rise about 17 percent once they're required to buy insurance four years from now. That estimate is from an analysis by Rand Health. Young people will need to carry more of the burden of health care under the new health overhaul law. The new law limits an industry practice of charging older customers more. Even so, the pluses could outweigh the minuses. Some 2 million people under age 26 should qualify for coverage under their parents' health plans. And Medicaid expansion will insure 9 million more young adults.

WASHINGTON – Millions of seniors who signed up for popular private health plans through Medicare are facing sharp premium increases this year — another sign that spiraling costs are a problem even for those with solid insurance. A study released Friday by a major consulting firm found that premiums for Medicare Advantage plans offering medical and prescription drug coverage jumped 14.2 percent on average in 2010, after an increase of only 5.2 percent the previous year. Some 8.5 million elderly and disabled Americans are in the plans, which provide more comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare, often at lower cost. ......