Health insurance costs going up, way up, thanks to Obamacare

[_bcspace]

From Kevin Graham's vaunted Forbes:

President Obama will deliver a second inaugural address later this month. He’ll no doubt reflect on what he’s done during his first four years in office — and on his signature healthcare law in particular.

Let’s reflect with him. During his first campaign for the presidency in 2008, the president promised that his health reform plan would “bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family” by the end of his first term.

Well, that first term is just about up. And health insurance isn’t any cheaper. In fact, it’s more expensive. Premiums have increased by an average of $3,065. And they’re about to go up even more, as Obamacare takes effect during the president’s second term.

At the end of 2012, Mark Bertolini, the CEO of Aetna, the third-largest health insurer in the country, warned that many consumers would face “premium rate shock” with the advent of Obamacare’s major insurance regulations in 2014. He predicted that unsubsidized premiums would rise 20 to 50 percent, on average.

For some people, premiums would double. “We’re going to see some markets go up as much as 100 percent,” Bertolini told Bloomberg News.

Aetna isn’t the only company forecasting higher health-insurance premiums. In California, Blue Shield has asked regulators to approve premium increases of up to 20 percent. Obamacare’s new regulations were a factor in the request. A spokesperson for the company said the new law “will bring a lot of volatility” into the market.

A shock? Not to those who’ve been paying attention. When Obamacare was making its way through Congress, the Congressional Budget Office warned that premiums in the individual market would increase by 10-13 percent.

Even the law’s designers admit that it will raise premiums. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Economics Professor Jonathan Gruber, one of Obamacare’s chief architects, estimated that premiums in Wisconsin would rise by about 30 percent by 2016 following implementation of the law. Most of the Badger State’s individual insurance market will see an even larger increase, averaging about 41 percent.

Obamacare’s defenders typically respond that the law’s subsidies will decrease what people actually pay out-of-pocket for insurance.

But that’s not always the case. Many individuals will still pay more even after they receive the generous subsidies to which the law entitles them. According to a report conducted by Gruber, 59 percent of the individual market will end up paying more after taking the subsidies into account. The average increase? Nearly a third.

These premium hikes will hit young people hardest. As The New York Times reported in October, insurers and health policy wonks are warning that the young will “face higher premiums because of a provision that limits how much rates can vary based on a person’s age.”

Typically, insurers charge older individuals more because they have higher average health costs. But because Obamacare includes a “community rating” provision that restricts how much insurers can charge people of different ages, the young will end up paying more — essentially subsidizing the coverage of older individuals who require more expensive care.

These won’t be small increases. Health insurance expert Bob Laszewski has said that young adults should expect their premiums to double thanks to Obamacare’s rules.

The law will make insurance more expensive for everyone else by saddling it with expensive mandates. Obamacare tasks states with figuring out which health benefits are “essential” and thus mandatory for insurers.

The result? Furious lobbying by every healthcare group, from acupuncturists to chiropractors to fertility specialists, all of whom want to make sure that coverage of their services is required for all policies issued in the state. The more coverage mandates there are, the higher premiums rise. Indeed, benefit mandates can add as much as 50 percent to the cost of insurance.

As President Obama’s second term unfolds, few — if any — families will see the $2,500 in health insurance savings he promised four years ago. The White House is now clinging to the hope that premiums won’t rise quite as fast as they have in the past.

In other words, health insurance costs are going up. And for that, you can thank Obamacare.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypipes/2013/01/07/obamacare-guarantees-higher-health-insurance-premiums-3000-higher/

And who pays the subsidies? Notice the price controls which merely shift costs. C'mon Kevin. As the article states; pay attention. You just can't keep up wallowing in Communist dogma.

[_Kevin Graham]

This article is so dishonest it is amazing. For starters, Obama's "promise" in 2008 was based on his original plan which got watered down by obstructionist Republicans before it ever became law. Secondly, there is no evidence that all premiums are going "way up". All we're hearing are unsubstantiated predictions from the usual suspects, while they entitle their articles in ways that make you think their predictions have already proven true.

The fact is healthcare costs are going down now four years straight, and that's an amazing accomplishment for the ACA. As such, there is every reason to expect premiums to eventually drop as well.

Consumer Questions on Health Care Act, and the Answers
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: June 29, 2012

Q. Will my insurance premium go up?
A. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that private health insurance premiums will increase by 5.7 percent each year, on average, from 2012 until 2022. But premiums would be getting more expensive with or without the Affordable Care Act. The budget office has estimated that, relative to what would happen in the absence of the law, premiums in the individual insurance market will be a little higher, employer-sponsored insurance premiums for big companies will be a little lower and employer-sponsored insurance premiums for small companies will stay about the same.

The Affordable Care Act Did Not Cause Unjust Premium Increases

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that some health insurance companies are blaming the Affordable Care Act for premium increases that were planned long before the law was passed. We knew this would happen, which is why the President called on insurance companies not to use the Affordable Care Act as an excuse to implement unreasonable premium increases. In fact, when one insurance company in the State of Washington was called out for telling its beneficiaries that rate increases were due to the Affordable Care Act, that company agreed to issue a new letter clarifying the reasons for the increase.

The premium increases discussed today – many of which were planned before the Affordable Care Act was even signed into law– demonstrate that reform came at a critical time. In fact, consumers have faced unreasonable double digit premium increases for more than a decade, including employer-sponsored plans where premiums have more than doubled since 2000.

The most recent round of premium increase announcements are at odds with a number of health care cost related projections. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that medical inflation is currently projected to be 3.2 percent this year. Similarly, The Kaiser Family Foundation concluded that family premiums were rising only 3 percent for this year. Finally, we estimate that any potential premium impact from the new consumer protections and increased quality provisions under the Affordable Care Act will be minimal – no more than 1-2 percent -- which will be further offset by other out of pocket savings implemented in the law.

[_Kevin Graham]

Let’s reflect with him. During his first campaign for the presidency in 2008, the president promised that his health reform plan would “bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family” by the end of his first term.

Reflect!

Do let's!

Please provide a direct citation backing up this woman's claim that Obama "promised" premiums would drop by $2500, "by the end of his first term."

The fact is Obama never made that promise. What he said is that he promised his health care plan would be law before his first term, but he never put a time frame on when those saving would kick in. Those savings couldn't possibly become realized until the reform was completely phased in anyway, which we know is going to take several years.

The problem with bcspace is the same problem he has always had. He keeps relying on sources that flat out lie about what's been said and done, and he thinks that by overwhelming us with these rhetorical pieces, he's somehow going to make his fantasies become reality.


From wiki:

In July 2008 The New York Times reported that Senator Obama has promised to “bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family.” His advisers have said that the $2,500 premium reduction includes, in addition to direct premium savings, the average family's share of the reduction in employer paid health insurance premiums and the reduction in the cost of government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid

That second point has already become reality for me at least. In November my company changed our healthcare plan, which dramatically increased benefits, got rid of the deductible completely, reduced the co-pay, and also the overall price for family coverage. Before November I paid $88 per paycheck for my entire family to be covered through Coventry, and now it is just $55 though Kaiser Permanente. My wife is going to have a baby and I'm going to pay a whopping $15 co-pay for the C-section procedure. Before the ACA co-pays could be charged for each visit no matter what it was for, but now they aren't allowed to charge co-pays for preventive measures, which means she doesn't even have to pay a co-pay every time she goes to see the doctor during her 9 months of pregnancy. This money adds up in savings, at least for us. I haven't done the math, but I'm guessing we're going to save hundreds this year already, and that's just from one person in our family going to the doctor.