[Vision2020] ObamaCare Premiums will increase 5-6% for 2015

[Nicholas Gier]

Visionaries:



With regard to Gary Crabtree's claim that the millions who lost their
health plans received new plans with higher premiums, all that I could find
is what is appended below.  As was the case in RomneyCare, Massachusetts
led the nation in declining health care premiums, and now ObamaCare is
effecting that trend nation-wide. If we had done Medicare for All, premiums
would be even lower. For years health care premiums were increasing at
double-digit rates and administrative costs for pre-ACA plans were in the
20-30 percent range with Medicare admini. costs below 10 percent.



Without exact data, I can speculate with some confidence that those who
lost their plans are in better and more comprehensive plans at perhaps
slightly higher premiums.



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obamacare-2015-low-premium-increases-110000415.html

On average, consumers can expect modest increases of about 5.6 percent from
last year according to PriceWaterhouseCooper
<http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/health-research-institute/aca-state-exchanges.jhtml>,
which analyzed data from 43 states and Washington D.C.

To be sure, health premiums increase each year and have long before
Obamacare. Now, health experts say that because of several provisions in
the law, premium price growth is actually slowing.

The average proposed premium was about $381. Of course, the price of
premiums varies widely from region to region. In Colorado, for example,
rates range from a 22 percent decrease to a 35 percent increase, according
to the study.

A separate analysis by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
<http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2014/rwjf416395>
found
that premiums would increase an average of less than 5 percent from last
year.
Sticker shock? Not. Obamacare's proposed 2015 rates

Dan Mangan <http://www.cnbc.com/id/100731877>

Friday, 3 Oct 2014 | 12:53 PM ETCNBC.com



Dire warnings by Obamacare opponents of dramatically higher insurance
premium prices in 2015 are not being borne out nationally, according to new
data
<http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/health-research-institute/aca-state-exchanges.jhtml>
showing
proposed prices are rising moderately, on average, nationally.

While the single-digit average price increases, coupled with a rise in the
number of insurers selling Obamacare plans for next year, suggest
enrollment could remain fairly strong in the new form of insurance in the
short term, questions remain about relative price stability over the long
term.

Six states and the District of Columbia already issued approved rates for
individual insurance plans in 2015, and the average premium is rising just
2.5 percent, PricewaterhouseCoopers found in its updated report
<http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/health-research-institute/aca-state-exchanges.jhtml>.
These plans go on sale Nov. 15.

The average premium in those states—across different price tiers and
ages—would be $327 per month. But that average doesn't reflect the effect
of federal subsidies that about 85 percent of Obamacare enrollees receive.
Those subsidies, which are based on income, can substantially cut actual
payments.

And in the 38 states and D.C. that have finalized rates or released
proposed rates for such plans, the average premium would rise 6 percent,
PwC said. The average premium would be $382 per month, before subsidies are
factored in.

Just one state so far, Louisiana, has reported that rates are proposed to
rise more than 10 percent. Cajun State residents are faced with an average
proposed premium hike of 15.3 percent for individual plans. At the other
end of the spectrum are Oregon's finalized rates, which are 2.5
percent lower than that state's 2014 premiums.

"I think it's probably coming as a relief to many that we're not seeing
double-digit rate increases," said Ceci Connolly, managing director of
PwC's Health Research Institute. "I think that the worries about
excessively high costs and prices have not materialized."

Connolly said the 6 percent average tracks "very closely what the average
[premium increase] is in in the employer-based market," which is where most
Americans get health coverage. And that average is 2.2 percentage points
lower than what PwC found when it first began tracking proposed rate hike
disclosures in states in mid-summer, she said.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20150204/448c364d/attachment.html>