‘Bigger Premium Increases In 2017’ Expected
‘The Public’s Views … More Negative Than Positive’
For One Woman Premiums Now ‘Higher Than Her Mortgage’
OK WOMAN: “When the health insurance premiums got to the point that they were higher than her mortgage, Renee Powell started to become cynical. ‘There was something in me that just kind of switched,’ said the mother of two from Bartlesville, Okla. ‘I was okay with paying $750, but when it became about $100 more than my housing costs, it upset me.’” (“Politics In Real Life: Rising Health Care Costs Weigh On Voters,” NPR, 5/3/16)
“She shopped for insurance through the Obamacare exchange and learned that rates in her new area were much higher than they had been in Oklahoma City. She bought a health plan from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma for $750 a month with a manageable deductible. Then last year Blue Cross eliminated that plan — which is pretty common as insurers adjust to the Obamacare markets — and Powell was forced to buy the more expensive policy with a deductible of $3,000 for each person in her family. The insurance pays for check-ups and prescriptions, but if anyone gets sick, Powell has to pay the full doctor bill until the deductibles are met.” (“Politics In Real Life: Rising Health Care Costs Weigh On Voters,” NPR,5/3/16)
…And More ‘Substantial Increases In Obamacare Premiums’ Are Coming Next Year
“Health insurance companies are laying the groundwork for substantial increases in ObamaCare premiums…” (“ObamaCare Premiums Expected To Rise Sharply Amid Insurer Losses,” The Hill, 4/25/16)
“Obamacare’s November surprise… plans socked by Obamacare losses look to regain their financial footing by raising rates.” (“Obamacare’s November Surprise,” Politico, 5/2/16)
“Insurers will seek significant premium hikes under President Barack Obama’s health care law this summer – stiff medicine for consumers and voters ahead of the national political conventions. Expect the state-by-state premium requests to reflect what insurers see as the bottom line: The health law has been a financial drain for many companies. They’re setting the stage for 2017 hikes that could reach well into the double digits…” (“Significant Premium Hikes Expected Under Obama Health Law,” The Associated Press, 4/28/2016)
“Insurance companies are expected to seek significant premium increases next year to stem their losses.” (“UnitedHealth Pulling Out Of Most Obamacare Markets,” The Hill, 4/19/2016)
“‘The industry is clearly setting the stage for bigger premium increases in 2017,’ said Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation.” (“Insurers Warn Losses From Obamacare Are Unsustainable,” The Hill, 4/15/2016)
Obamacare Co-Op Insurer: ‘I Have To Raise Prices Because I Have To Assume The Worst’
“Just over half of the 23 nonprofit startups seeded with Obamacare loan dollars have collapsed after hemorrhaging red ink. The 11 surviving plans continue to struggle, with more than $400 million in combined losses last year.” (“Obamacare’s November Surprise,” Politico, 5/02/2016)
NEW MEXICO: “‘I have to raise prices because I have to assume the worst,’ said Martin Hickey, CEO of New Mexico Health Connections, one of the surviving co-ops, whichexpects to increase prices by roughly a third for 2017. ‘Whether it stabilizes or not, we can’t take the risk.’” (“Obamacare’s November Surprise,” Politico, 5/02/2016)
VIRGINIA: “[I]n Virginia, a state that reports early, nine insurers returning to the HealthCare.gov marketplace are seeking average premium increases that range from 9.4 percent to 37.1 percent.” (“Significant Premium Hikes Expected Under Obama Health Law,” The Associated Press, 4/28/2016)
NEW YORK: “Even New York-based Oscar, the much ballyhooed, tech-savvy startup bankrolled with billions in venture capital dollar, is sputtering. Medical costs for Oscar’s individual customers in New York, where it has the most customers, outstripped premiums by nearly 50 percent last year, according to financial filings.”(“Obamacare’s November Surprise,” Politico, 5/02/2016)
POLLS: ‘Americans Disapprove …Of Health Care Law,’ ‘45 Percent Say The Cost Of Their Health Insurance Premium Has Increased’
NPR POLL: “A recent poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health showed … 45 percent say the cost of their health insurance premium has increased and 35 percent say their co-pays and deductibles have risen in the past two years, even though just 16 percent say their benefits have improved during that same time.” (“Politics In Real Life: Rising Health Care Costs Weigh On Voters,” NPR, 5/3/16)
PEW POLL: “The public’s views of the Affordable Care Act … are again more negative than positive. Currently, 44% approve of the 2010 health care law, compared with 54% who disapprove of the law.” (“More Americans Disapprove Than Approve of Health Care Law,” Pew Research Center, 4/27/2016)
“More adults (31%) say the health care law has had a mostly negative effect on themselves and their families than say it has had a mostly positive one (23%) … the balance of opinion about the law’s personal impact has remained more negative than positive.” (“More Americans Disapprove Than Approve of Health Care Law,” Pew Research Center, 4/27/2016)
“[M]ore say that, looking ahead, the health care law will have a mostly negative than a mostly positive personal impact…” (“More Americans Disapprove Than Approve of Health Care Law,” Pew Research Center, 4/27/2016)
GALLUP POLL: “Healthcare costs top U.S. families’ financial concerns” (“Healthcare Costs Top U.S. Families’ Financial Concerns,” Gallup, 4/27/2016)
FLASHBACK: Democrats’ Broken Promises And Busted Predictions
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Families will save on their premiums.” (President Obama, Remarks After Meeting With Senate Democrats, 12/15/09)
OBAMA: “This law will lower premiums.” (President Obama, Remarks To ‘Families USA,’ 1/28/11)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): “Bringing down costs of health insurance and making it more affordable is job one for this health care reform.” (Sen. Dick Durbin, Floor Remarks, 12/18/09)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “When people see what is in this bill and when people see what it does, they will come around.” (“Schumer: Poll Numbers Will Turn In Dems Favor,” Politico, 12/21/09)
53 times Obama used illegal executive actions to delay these higher costs until after various elections.
Now those chickens are all coming home to roost.
These ”fixes” are like the ”doctor fix” of Medicare writ large.
As soon as these costs all hit the entire house of ObamaCare cards falls.
I read your posts, but rarely comment. Usually because someone else can say it so much better!
That said, I feel compelled to put a human face on Obamacare.
I work as a visiting nurse. Under ACA( we are not permitted to call it Obamacare) in- home visiting nurse services have been severely curtailed. My salary has been cut now four times since 2010 due to delayed and reduced reimbursements. I have had to discharge patients that badly need in home care but, due to new Medicare regulations and new definitions of skilled nursing, we have to discharge. But yet I also have immigrant patients that are totally unemployable due to lack of language and marketable skills that tell me that they can live like no one else back in their home country and never worry about who pays the bills. They get upgraded services (transportation, EBT cards, child care services, cable TV, housing, assistance with ADL’s, and monthly bills such as water, sewer, phone , etc and have never paid in a dime to the American system. As an RN, I can not be judgmental , but my heart cries to see my patients medications escalate in price based on age ,denial of basic health screening tests based on age , denial of basic visiting RN assessments and loss of monies for payment of monthly bills such as heat. The ACA has been a miserable failure. The sad thing is that the small microcosm of patients that I know in detail, think that they are alone in the misery of ACA. They do not comprehend that the cut backs are nationwide. In short, the studied and purposeful abuse of our elderly is heart breaking and devastating to our elderly.