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Thread: Obama administration confirms double-digit premium hikes

  1. #1

    Obama administration confirms double-digit premium hikes

    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/62acd...-premium-hikes

    Oct. 24, 2016



    WASHINGTON (AP) — Premiums will go up sharply next year under President Barack Obama's health care law, and many consumers will be down to just one insurer, the administration confirmed Monday. That's sure to stoke another "Obamacare" controversy days before a presidential election.

    Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.

    Moreover, about 1 in 5 consumers will only have plans from a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers such as UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna scaled back their roles.

    "Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period," said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.


    Republicans pounced on the numbers as a warning that insurance markets created by the 2010 health overhaul are teetering toward a "death spiral." Sign-up season starts Nov. 1, about a week before national elections in which the GOP remains committed to a full repeal.

    The new numbers aren't too surprising, said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who chairs a committee that oversees the law. It "does little to dispel the notion we are seeing the law implode at the expense of middle-class families."

    HHS essentially confirmed state-by-state reports that have been coming in for months. Window shopping for plans and premiums is already available through HealthCare.gov.

    Administration officials are stressing that subsidies provided under the law, which are designed to rise alongside premiums, will insulate most customers from sticker shock. They add that consumers who are willing to switch to cheaper plans will still be able to find bargains.

    "Headline rates are generally rising faster than in previous years," acknowledged HHS spokesman Kevin Griffis. But he added that for most consumers, "headline rates are not what they pay."

    The vast majority of the more than 10 million customers who purchase through HealthCare.gov and its state-run counterparts do receive generous financial assistance. "Enrollment is concentrated among very low-income individuals who receive significant government subsidies to reduce premiums and cost-sharing," said Caroline Pearson of the consulting firm Avalere Health

    But an estimated 5 million to 7 million people are either not eligible for the income-based assistance, or they buy individual policies outside of the health law's markets, where the subsidies are not available. The administration is urging the latter group to check out HealthCare.gov. The spike in premiums generally does not affect the employer-provided plans that cover most workers and their families.

    In some states, the premium increases are striking. In Arizona, unsubsidized premiums for a hypothetical 27-year-old buying a benchmark "second-lowest cost silver plan" will jump by 116 percent, from $196 to $422, according to the administration report.

    But HHS said if that hypothetical consumer has a fairly modest income, making $25,000 a year, the subsidies would cover $280 of the new premium, and the consumer would pay $142. Caveat: if the consumer is making $30,000 or $40,000 his or her subsidy would be significantly lower.

    Dwindling choice is another issue.

    The total number of HealthCare.gov insurers will drop from 232 this year to 167 in 2017, a loss of 28 percent. (Insurers are counted multiple times if they offer coverage in more than one state. So Aetna, for example, would count once in each state that it participated in.)

    Switching insurers may not be simple for patients with chronic conditions.

    While many carriers are offering a choice of plan designs, most use a single prescription formulary and physician network across all their products, explained Pearson. "So, enrollees may need to change doctors or drugs when they switch insurers," she said.

    Overall, it's shaping up to be the most difficult sign-up season since HealthCare.gov launched in 2013 and the computer system froze up.

    Enrollment has been lower than initially projected, and insurers say patients turned out to be sicker than expected. Moreover, a complex internal system to help stabilize premiums has not worked as hoped for.

    Nonetheless Obama says the underlying structure of the law is sound, and current problems are only "growing pains." The president has called for a government-sponsored "public option" insurance plan to compete with private companies.

    Republicans are united in calling for complete repeal, but they have not spelled out how they would address the problems of the uninsured.

    Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed an array of fixes, including sweetening the law's subsidies and allowing more people to qualify for financial assistance.

    The law makes carrying health insurance a legal obligation for most people, and prohibits insurers for turning away the sick. It offers subsidized private plans to people who don't have coverage through their jobs, along with a state option to expand Medicaid for low-income people.

    Largely as a result, the nation's uninsured rate has dropped below 9 percent, a historically low level. More than 21 million people have gained coverage since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010.



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  3. #2
    Just in time for the Holiday season .
    Do something Danke

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by oyarde View Post
    Just in time for the Holiday season .
    All is proceeding as planned.

  5. #4
    Is there any other way to take someones money by force without negotiation of the rates?

    Negotiation is the foundation upon which the price of goods and services are determined by the Free Market. There is NO negotiation here. For many people, there is very little opportunity to "shop around" either. Now, since we know the US govt policy is to never negotiate with terrorists, I guess they really do see the people as the enemy.

    None of the Above - Perhaps we should seriously consider not having a president at all. It would flat out tell them that we know we DO NOT NEED THEM.
    1776 > 1984

    The FAILURE of the United States Government to operate and maintain an
    Honest Money System , which frees the ordinary man from the clutches of the money manipulators, is the single largest contributing factor to the World's current Economic Crisis.

    The Elimination of Privacy is the Architecture of Genocide

    Belief, Money, and Violence are the three ways all people are controlled

    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Our central bank is not privately owned.

  6. #5
    CNN reporter wants more fines for 'young and healthy' Obamacare violators

    A CNN correspondent argued Tuesday that the best fix for Obamacare is to raise fees on already sticker-shocked consumers.

    CNN's Carol Costello asked reporter Christine Romans what the "one thing" she would do to address the rising cost of healthcare, and Romans said that "higher fines on people who don't come out and get insurance" could be the answer.

    "People are just saying, 'I'll pay the fine, I'm young and healthy.'" Romans said. "The invincibles, they call them. Maybe if you raise the fees and the fines, maybe those young people would come in, pay $100 a month, and you'll have more money in the system."

    Obamacare calls for fines against people who don't buy insurance, and that fine will hit almost $700 this year. But Romans suggested it's a problem that it is still more cost effective for many people to pay the fine rather than buy a plan.

    "Right now … the cheapest plan is still more expensive than that $700," said Romans, describing the typical fee for an individual adult.

    "At least I have something tangible going into my partisan discussion," Costello said.

    "And don't forget about the risk corridor, the risk pool, they can fix that too," said Romans in response. She was referring to plans that are meant to even out profits and losses among insurance companies, another program that is short of money and could be the focus of bailout efforts by Democrats before the end of the year.
    ...
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2605538/
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Paul View Post
    The intellectual battle for liberty can appear to be a lonely one at times. However, the numbers are not as important as the principles that we hold. Leonard Read always taught that "it's not a numbers game, but an ideological game." That's why it's important to continue to provide a principled philosophy as to what the role of government ought to be, despite the numbers that stare us in the face.
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    This intellectually stimulating conversation is the reason I keep coming here.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    All is proceeding as planned.
    Obamacare: if it wasn't designed to fail, it might as well have been.

    "Oh, look, the 'free market' failed again ..." ()

    Can you say "single-payer," boys and girls? There! I knew you could ...
    The Bastiat Collection · FREE PDF · FREE EPUB · PAPER
    Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)

    • "When law and morality are in contradiction to each other, the citizen finds himself in the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense, or of losing his respect for the law."
      -- The Law (p. 54)
    • "Government is that great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
      -- Government (p. 99)
    • "[W]ar is always begun in the interest of the few, and at the expense of the many."
      -- Economic Sophisms - Second Series (p. 312)
    • "There are two principles that can never be reconciled - Liberty and Constraint."
      -- Harmonies of Political Economy - Book One (p. 447)

    · tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito ·

  8. #7
    Administration officials are stressing that subsidies provided under the law, which are designed to rise alongside premiums, will insulate most customers from sticker shock.
    Oh, well ok then. All is cool. /sarc

    How the fock is this supposed to be a good thing?! "Oh, don't worry about rising insurance costs, we're just going to borrow more from the fruits of the labor of your grandchildren."

    Look, every one of us in here knew the plan was designed to bring on single-payer. Somehow, as always, there is no pleasure in being right.
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  9. #8
    I HATE!
    "One thing my years in Washington taught me is that most politicians are followers, not leaders. Therefore we should not waste time and resources trying to educate politicians. Politicians will not support individual liberty and limited government unless and until they are forced to do so by the people," says Ron Paul."



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  11. #9
    Overall, it's shaping up to be the most difficult sign-up season since HealthCare.gov launched in 2013 and the computer system froze up.

    Enrollment has been lower than initially projected, and insurers say patients turned out to be sicker than expected. Moreover, a complex internal system to help stabilize premiums has not worked as hoped for.

    Nonetheless Obama says the underlying structure of the law is sound, and current problems are only "growing pains." The president has called for a government-sponsored "public option" insurance plan to compete with private companies.

    Republicans are united in calling for complete repeal, but they have not spelled out how they would address the problems of the uninsured.

    Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed an array of fixes, including sweetening the law's subsidies and allowing more people to qualify for financial assistance.









  12. #10
    Wait until you all see what KilleryKare will look like.

  13. #11
    "People are just saying, 'I'll pay the fine, I'm young and healthy.'" Romans said. "The invincibles, they call them. Maybe if you raise the fees and the fines, maybe those young people would come in, pay $100 a month, and you'll have more money in the system."
    Taking the velvet glove off.

    Good.

    Hope AmeriKan assenholes get smashed right in their idiot $#@!ing faces.

    I say SWAT raid 'em for not having insurance.

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed an array of fixes, including sweetening the law's subsidies and allowing more people to qualify for financial assistance.
    [IMG]https://media.giphy.com/media/Vg0JstydL8HCg/giphy.gif[/IMG]

    [IMG]https://m.popkey.co/e073b2/Xgdo6.gif[/IMG]

    FIFY

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed an array of fixes, including sweetening the law's subsidies and allowing more people to qualify for financial assistance.


    Health Secretary Burwell: Obamacare Premiums Will Increase, But So Will Subsidies

    The top U.S. health official spoke out in defense of Obamacare on Wednesday, saying the looming increase in premium costs are a result of insurers initially under-pricing, and not a sign of a broken healthcare system.

    Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell defended the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, during a conversation with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. at Georgetown University.

    "Whenever we have had major legislation in the United States, you learn and you iterate," Burwell said. "That's an activity that's done with both the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch working together and that's what I think we're hopeful will happen."

    In the early years of health care reform insurers were under-pricing premiums because they did not have access to data, Burwell said. The new increase in costs is a reflection of insurers now being able to adjust prices based on actuarial data, she said.

    ...

    "We're not going back," she said. "So, in a world where that is true, the alternative we all have is to work together and improve the things that aren't working well. And I think that's what's going to happen in a new administration."
    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...3571?cid=sm_fb
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Paul View Post
    The intellectual battle for liberty can appear to be a lonely one at times. However, the numbers are not as important as the principles that we hold. Leonard Read always taught that "it's not a numbers game, but an ideological game." That's why it's important to continue to provide a principled philosophy as to what the role of government ought to be, despite the numbers that stare us in the face.
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    This intellectually stimulating conversation is the reason I keep coming here.

  16. #14
    Look, the law says it's Affordable. If it wasn't affordable it would be illegal.
    Support Justin Amash for Congress
    Michigan Congressional District 3

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptUSA View Post
    How the fock is this supposed to be a good thing?! "Oh, don't worry about rising insurance costs, we're just going to borrow more from the fruits of the labor of your grandchildren."
    Neither a good thing or bad, since we own nothing.

    None of it, not our home or land or income or fruits of our labor, or children, or savings, or property of any kind.

    All for the state, nothing outside the state.

    This is just the machine re-allocating resources.

  18. #16
    It's all in how you say "Premiums"!! You know, if they're premium, they must be good.

    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    Taking the velvet glove off.

    Good.

    Hope AmeriKan assenholes get smashed right in their idiot $#@!ing faces.

    I say SWAT raid 'em for not having insurance.
    Mandatory prison sentences for those that refuse to buy insurance.
    I am the spoon.

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Occam's Banana View Post
    Obamacare: if it wasn't designed to fail, it might as well have been.

    "Oh, look, the 'free market' failed again ..." ()

    Can you say "single-payer," boys and girls? There! I knew you could ...
    And where in the "Free Market" can you not have any say so in the price of services that are forced upon you by law? This is not Free Market, this is a thug holding a gun to everyones heads and demanding "Your money or your life".
    1776 > 1984

    The FAILURE of the United States Government to operate and maintain an
    Honest Money System , which frees the ordinary man from the clutches of the money manipulators, is the single largest contributing factor to the World's current Economic Crisis.

    The Elimination of Privacy is the Architecture of Genocide

    Belief, Money, and Violence are the three ways all people are controlled

    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Our central bank is not privately owned.



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