For Consumers Whose Health Premiums Will Go Up Under New Law, Sticker Shock Leads to Anger

The Washington Post ^ | Monday, November 4, 2013 | Ariana Eunjung Cha and Lena H. Sun

[kristinn]

SNIP

Robert Laszewski, an industry consultant, said he thinks the rise in rates was inevitable. The new law, he said, has resulted in an estimated 30 to 50 percent increase in baseline costs for insurers.

SNIP

David Prestin, 48, who operates a gas station and diner at a truck stop in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, was unhappy to learn recently that his premiums are slated to rise from $923 to $1,283 next year under Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The insurer said it needed to add maternity care to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

The issue of maternity coverage is a sensitive one for Prestin and his wife, Kathie. They had one child seven years ago, but after she had five miscarriages, they discovered she had an immune issue that prevented her from successfully completing a pregnancy.

At the same time, Prestin said, the new plan would reduce coverage for things he and Kathie need, such as free annual checkups.

The Prestins explored HealthCare.gov. They are not eligible for subsidies, but they found a cheaper plan than the one being offered by their insurer. However, there was another problem: It would have required the couple to switch from the doctors they have seen for more than 16 years and travel more than 100 miles from their home to the nearest major hospital center for treatment — in Green Bay, Wis.

“I pay my taxes. I’m assistant chief of the volunteer fire department here in Cedar River and a first responder for Mid-County Rescue,” Prestin said. “You try to be personally accountable and play by the rules, but the more you play by the rules, the more you get beat up on.”

[CodeToad]

This is a highly emotional issue for everyone, so any “news” source spreading Obama’s communist propaganda is going to be met with anger by all sides.

[grania]

the Repubs were somehow to blame

THE RINOs WERE !! And they're fighting like rabid dogs to keep constitutional conservatives from winning primaries, then elections. They sabotaged Ted Cruz's success. Their leader, McConnell sold out conservatives for $2 billion more for a project.

I don't see how the RINOs will get anyone, including conservatives, to vote for them ever again. Let the dems own it if the RINOs aren't going to help stop it.

Yeah, I'm that mad.

[A Navy Vet]

"My next door neighbor’s adult daughter (in her early 40’s, free-spirit artsy-hippy type) is a big Obozo lover. She believed that her and her husband’s healthcare would be FREE. She complained to her mother that now they would have to actually GET JOBS to pay for their healthcare..."

Post of the day even though it's still early.

Delicious. Oh noes, have to get a job. The Horror! The Horror! I'm loving these stories that I read every single day by some dumbass Obambi supporter. However, they need to also point their fingers at the socialist Democrats who sent their bill to Obambi. That's why I like the term, "DemocratCare".

If the Republicans don't highly promote that not one of them voted for this mess, than they are as stupid and/or complicit as they appear.

[Arrowhead1952]

Our daughter sent a cartoon with the caption:

Obama should be arming Americans and giving obamacare to the muslim brotherhood.

[GOPJ]

Dems are angry violent liars. Why would we want to be like them?

[what's up]

but many will qualify for federal aid to pay for the premiums. Thus, they will end up with better coverage at lower costs,

This lie is being told over and over.

The costs are NOT LOWER. Deductibles are going up for many people by $1000/mo. In what world is this a "lower cost"?

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Who’s getting mad now???...The idiots who voted for him?...The rest of us have been mad as hell since he got elected!

[Josa]

And enjoy a heaping dose of WE TOLD YOU SO