Posted on 10/28/2009 3:50:30 AM PDT by markomalley
Washington is captivated by the Senate melodrama over the so-called public option, salivating at the ring of Harry Reid's political bell (see below). But the most important health-care questions continue to be about the policy substance—particularly those that Democrats don't want asked.
Foremost among them is: How will ObamaCare affect insurance premiums in the private health-care markets? Despite indignant Democratic denials, the near-certainty is that their plan will cause costs to rise across the board. The latest data on this score come from a series of state-level studies from the insurance company WellPoint Inc.
At the request of Congressional delegations worried about their constituents—call it a public service—WellPoint mined its own actuarial data to model ObamaCare in the 14 states where it runs Blue Cross plans. The study therefore takes into account market and demographic differences that other industry studies have not, such as the one from the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, which looked at aggregate national trends.
In all of the 14 states WellPoint scrutinized, ObamaCare would drive up premiums for the small businesses and individuals who are most of WellPoint's customers. (Other big insurers, like Aetna, focus on the market among large businesses.) Young and healthy consumers will see the largest increases—their premiums would more than triple in some states—though average middle-class buyers will pay more too.
Not even two hours after Wellpoint had presented its materials on the Hill, Democrats were already trashing it—which, considering that it runs to some 238 pages and took weeks to prepare, must have required remarkable powers of digestion and analysis.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Car insurance companies warned the Dem legislature of this before the vote, and told them that because of the increased coverage, rates would necessarily go up, they didn't listen. New rates are starting to come out right now, and they are expected to be up to 3 times as much. A legislature in the state actually sent out a letter to his constituents BLAMING THE CAR INSURANCE COMPANIES" "those evil insurance companies".
Who really thinks that increase, mandatory, coverage will not do the same thing to health insurance?
Got a lertter from the HMO...Premium going up 58% in January...BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT!!
WI Dems increase the financial exposure of the insurance companies and expect the insurance industry to simply eat it.
I’d suggest the various insurance companies print up the same exact response for each complaint: A list of the dems that initiated this, all who voted for it, their office telephone number, and the date they are up for re-election.
I also plan to send it to Scott Walker, who is running for Governor, and ask him to use it (along with other examples) in his fight next year.
We are a family of three drivers, my son and I have NEVER had even a speeding ticket, no accidents, etc. My husband has had a speeding ticket, but it was almost 10 years ago. And outside some hail damage about 12 years ago, we have never made a claim. We have been with our company almost 15 years. So any increase can be laid squarely at the Dems feet, and that is what I intend to do!
Wisconsin Assembly Leader Tom Nelson (D) is indeed blaming the insurance companies. He obviously thinks Badger State residents will fall for that. Everyone needs to write, call, or email Rep. Nelson and ask him to fess-up and admit HE increased everyone’s auto insurance rates and NOT the insurance companies.
Also, encourage everyone you know to take my advice, and when our increased insurance bills come in next month, send them to supportive Republicans, and Scott Walker/Mark Neumann and encourage them to make the Dems pay for this "unfunded (funded by the individual) mandate!
Our very small business already spends over $25K/year on insurance. If it went up to $75K, we would have to bring in another $335K in billing just to break even. I’m sure other small businesses look at it the same way — and that’s just in the first year. The goal of this admin seems to be to make us all dependent upon them so then their manipulation of us is even easier. This is not going to be pretty.
Don't forget about the taxes on your "Cadillac Plan" as well. That's not, AFAIK, fully factored into this Wellpoint study.
Part D is going way up next year. I really believe that if the government would either get out of the way or relax regulations costs would go down.
BTTT
True. This whole plan is so disingenuous it makes me sick. Wait — I can’t afford to get sick! GAH!
BTTT
Why is it that every single piece of legislation put up by Democrats is presented like a game of 3-card monty...only THEY pick the card for you and it’s always the wrong one?
Virtually every assurance that Øbama gave us on his Marxist medical takeover scheme has turned out false. “You lie!” is an understatement. While our CMSM keeps fresh kneepads at the ready and their heads up their butts. If they only presented the real numbers instead of agenda-weighted poll numbers, America would see how destructive their plans are to this once-great nation.
Awesome response to this item! I hope many in WI not only speak up, but make quite clear the root cause on this one.
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