Get Ready for Huge Obamacare Premium Hikes in 2017

[BDKJMU]

".......If Tavenner is right, Obamacare will jump dramatically—last year’s premium for the popular silver-level plan surged 11 percent on average. Although Tavenner didn’t mention deductibles, in 2016, some states saw jumps of 76 percent, while the average deductible for a 27-year-old male on a silver plan was 8 percent.

The warning to consumers from Tavenner, the former administration official who headed the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and oversaw the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, the Obamacare website, comes at a time of growing uncertainty about the evolving makeup of the Obamacare health insurance market. With many insurers struggling to find profitability in the program, the collapse of nearly half of the 23 Obamacare insurance co-ops and this week’s announcement that giant UnitedHealth Group intends to pull out of most Obamacare markets across the country, anticipating future premiums and copayments is largely risky guesswork.

Premiums for the current 2016 season rose on average by 8 percent over the previous year, with 12.7 million Americans enrolling for coverage and government subsidies, according to CMS.....

....But Tavenner outlined several factors that she could put considerable pressure on premium prices next year. Those include:
*A general rise in the nation’s health care tab. Overall, U.S. health care spending grew by 5.3 percent in 2014 – reaching an historic level of $3 trillion, after years of relative cost stability. Medical costs rise from year to year and will certainly affect the next round of premium hikes.

*Soaring prescription drug prices. Insurers as well as government health care programs have been struggling to keep pace with rising drug prices, especially newer specialty drugs to treat the Hepatitis-C virus and cancer. Pfizer Inc., Amgen Inc., Allergan PLC and other companies have raised U.S. prices for scores of branded drugs since late December, with many of the increases between 9 percent and 10 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal .

*The combination of market forces and limitations imposed by the Affordable Care Act will put enormous pressure on insurers to up their premiums. Under the law, there is a cap on insurers’ profits, companies are obliged to insure anyone regardless of their general health or pre-existing conditions, and the insurance plans must be structured in a certain way that often lead to losses.

*Finally, two of three federal “risk mitigation” programs created under Obamacare are due to expire in 2017. Those programs were set up to protect insurers from huge, unexpected losses from providing health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. UnitedHealth and other major insurers have found it difficult to accurately anticipate their costs in providing coverage to sicker or older Americans, and set premiums that were inadequate to cover their risks. Without those programs to fall back on, many companies likely will seek to jack up their premiums...."
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/04/2 ... Hikes-2017

[BDKJMU]

2 days ago:
Deserting ObamaCare: UnitedHealth, nation's largest health insurer, bolts, fears huge losses
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/04 ... osses.html

Obamacare is going to turn into a f'ing disaster..

[93henfan]

Look man, they had to get that law passed so they could have time to read what was in it.

Give the Democrats a break. They're not fast readers.

[Ibanez]

Look man, they had to get that law passed so they could have time to read what was in it.

Give the Democrats a break. They're not fast readers.

Yeah, but they are still on the Table of Contents.

[CID1990]

Gosh who could have predicted this

[ASUG8]

It's rare when an insurance company loses money - kind of like casinos. They must know a bad deal when they see it.

Oh yeah, insurers and casinos are kind of the same thing.

[bluehenbillk]

Maybe the next President can do what Obama should've done & look for ways to reduce or at the very least slow down the ever increasing cost of healthcare.

[Pwns]

"We told them premiums would go down!"

It's rare when an insurance company loses money - kind of like casinos. They must know a bad deal when they see it.

Oh yeah, insurers and casinos are kind of the same thing.

Not really. If a casino you go to increases the price for a hand of blackjack you can actually find another casino to go to.

[kalm]

It's always interesting to see two conflicting reports. I don't know which is more correct. I'll leave it up to BDK to poke the holes. And I really don't care all that much. Spending the last year helping my aging mom navigate the system has simply confirmed what a clusterfuck it still is. I'll get interested when single payer is put on the table.

Overall, the Affordable Care Act has resulted in about 20 million newly insured adults, according to the administration’s estimate. In other words, Obamacare is doing its job.

You might find that hard to believe if you’ve listened to Republicans in Washington and Republicans on the campaign trail. They’re still vowing to repeal Obamacare, which they insist is a job killer and the cause of out-of-control insurance costs.

But job growth is now the best it’s been in two decades, and health care costs – from Medicare spending per enrollee to family premiums in employer-based coverage – are growing at a slower rate than before Obamacare, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. In fact, the last four years of premiums account for four of the five slowest growth years since 1999.

Health care inflation overall also has slowed, dropping to the lowest level since the government began measuring it more than 50 years ago. In part that’s because of Obamacare reforms like those that have reduced hospital medical errors and costly readmissions.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinio ... rylink=cpy

[Rob Iola]

It's always interesting to see two conflicting reports. I don't know which is more correct. I'll leave it up to BDK to poke the holes. And I really don't care all that much. Spending the last year helping my aging mom navigate the system has simply confirmed what a clusterfuck it still is. I'll get interested when single payer is put on the table.

Overall, the Affordable Care Act has resulted in about 20 million newly insured adults, according to the administration’s estimate. In other words, Obamacare is doing its job.

You might find that hard to believe if you’ve listened to Republicans in Washington and Republicans on the campaign trail. They’re still vowing to repeal Obamacare, which they insist is a job killer and the cause of out-of-control insurance costs.

But job growth is now the best it’s been in two decades, and health care costs – from Medicare spending per enrollee to family premiums in employer-based coverage – are growing at a slower rate than before Obamacare, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. In fact, the last four years of premiums account for four of the five slowest growth years since 1999.

Health care inflation overall also has slowed, dropping to the lowest level since the government began measuring it more than 50 years ago. In part that’s because of Obamacare reforms like those that have reduced hospital medical errors and costly readmissions.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinio ... rylink=cpy

Anecdotaly (sp?) speaking, premium increases are kept low due to significant increases in deductibles, co-pays, and "consumer-driven" health care costs - meaning that after a plan-paid annual physical people are on the hook for upwards of $1000 in any additional costs, sometimes off-set by employer contributions to HSAs.

[kalm]

It's always interesting to see two conflicting reports. I don't know which is more correct. I'll leave it up to BDK to poke the holes. And I really don't care all that much. Spending the last year helping my aging mom navigate the system has simply confirmed what a clusterfuck it still is. I'll get interested when single payer is put on the table.



Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinio ... rylink=cpy

Anecdotaly (sp?) speaking, premium increases are kept low due to significant increases in deductibles, co-pays, and "consumer-driven" health care costs - meaning that after a plan-paid annual physical people are on the hook for upwards of $1000 in any additional costs, sometimes off-set by employer contributions to HSAs.

Good point. Our plan massively increased its co-pays this year so we switched to another provider within the same company. That saved us literally thousands in deductibles on drugs and the premium only increased a few bucks.

[CID1990]

It's always interesting to see two conflicting reports. I don't know which is more correct. I'll leave it up to BDK to poke the holes. And I really don't care all that much. Spending the last year helping my aging mom navigate the system has simply confirmed what a **** it still is. I'll get interested when single payer is put on the table.

Overall, the Affordable Care Act has resulted in about 20 million newly insured adults, according to the administration’s estimate. In other words, Obamacare is doing its job.

You might find that hard to believe if you’ve listened to Republicans in Washington and Republicans on the campaign trail. They’re still vowing to repeal Obamacare, which they insist is a job killer and the cause of out-of-control insurance costs.

But job growth is now the best it’s been in two decades, and health care costs – from Medicare spending per enrollee to family premiums in employer-based coverage – are growing at a slower rate than before Obamacare, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. In fact, the last four years of premiums account for four of the five slowest growth years since 1999.

Health care inflation overall also has slowed, dropping to the lowest level since the government began measuring it more than 50 years ago. In part that’s because of Obamacare reforms like those that have reduced hospital medical errors and costly readmissions.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinio ... rylink=cpy

So you'll be interested when turning a trip to the doctor into a trip to the DMV is on the table?

What we had before, despite the flaws, was better. This would remain the case if we went to single payer.

[DSUrocks07]

sounds affordable to me.

Side note: One part of Trump's "repeal and replace Obamacare" plan includes allowing individuals to deduct healthcare premium payments from their taxes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[DSUrocks07]

Where do the other candidates stand on the status of Obamacare? I'm sure HRC wants to continue to bury her head in the sand. Bernie is praying for the entire system to collapse so he can swoop in with single payer as the savior (as he believe government always is). Cruz might tell us all to pray and let God decide if we should live or die

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[kalm]

It's always interesting to see two conflicting reports. I don't know which is more correct. I'll leave it up to BDK to poke the holes. And I really don't care all that much. Spending the last year helping my aging mom navigate the system has simply confirmed what a **** it still is. I'll get interested when single payer is put on the table.



Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinio ... rylink=cpy

So you'll be interested when turning a trip to the doctor into a trip to the DMV is on the table?

What we had before, despite the flaws, was better. This would remain the case if we went to single payer.

It's worse than a trip to the DMV right now and it was before ACA too.

[AZGrizFan]

Anecdotaly (sp?) speaking, premium increases are kept low due to significant increases in deductibles, co-pays, and "consumer-driven" health care costs - meaning that after a plan-paid annual physical people are on the hook for upwards of $1000 in any additional costs, sometimes off-set by employer contributions to HSAs.

Good point. Our plan massively increased its co-pays this year so we switched to another provider within the same company. That saved us literally thousands in deductibles on drugs and the premium only increased a few bucks.

Yeah, it's not anecdotal, Rob. EVERYONE had to gut their plans to make them even remotely affordable under the current system.

[∞∞∞]

I feel like we had this thread last year about 2016, but I honestly can't remember.

[∞∞∞]

Good point. Our plan massively increased its co-pays this year so we switched to another provider within the same company. That saved us literally thousands in deductibles on drugs and the premium only increased a few bucks.

Yeah, it's not anecdotal, Rob. EVERYONE had to gut their plans to make them even remotely affordable under the current system.

Our plan wasn't gutted. I actually got an extra $250 HSA card without any price increase in the plan.

[AZGrizFan]

Yeah, it's not anecdotal, Rob. EVERYONE had to gut their plans to make them even remotely affordable under the current system.

Our plan wasn't gutted. I actually got an extra $250 HSA card without any price increase in the plan.

THAT is anecdotal.

Are you with Humana?

[∞∞∞]

Our plan wasn't gutted. I actually got an extra $250 HSA card without any price increase in the plan.

THAT is anecdotal.

Are you with Humana?

BlueCross Blueshield.

From what they explained though, our new Wellness Program is helping a lot (that program also puts in $600/yr/individual or $1200/yr/family into the HSA account if we accomplish all the goals). Actually, I think these Wellness Programs beginning to emerge at some companies could be a great way to make this nation healthier and in turn, cut down on health care costs.

[HI54UNI]

Yeah, it's not anecdotal, Rob. EVERYONE had to gut their plans to make them even remotely affordable under the current system.

Our plan wasn't gutted. I actually got an extra $250 HSA card without any price increase in the plan.

Did your employer have a large turnover in employees and/or hire a large number of young employees? That's another factor to add to Rob's list. We added a very young employee to our small group and our premium went down 4% because of it. Had we not hired the young employee it would've increased 17%.

[∞∞∞]

Our plan wasn't gutted. I actually got an extra $250 HSA card without any price increase in the plan.

Did your employer have a large turnover in employees and/or hire a large number of young employees? That's another factor to add to Rob's list. We added a very young employee to our small group and our premium went down 4% because of it. Had we not hired the young employee it would've increased 17%.

See my edit above; I think the primary reason was an addition of a Wellness Program. I'm not really sure about the demographics of the people we're hiring company-wide. We only hired three people at our office last year: 31 yo female, 36 yo female (smoker), and 40-something male.

[CitadelGrad]

So you'll be interested when turning a trip to the doctor into a trip to the DMV is on the table?

What we had before, despite the flaws, was better. This would remain the case if we went to single payer.

It's worse than a trip to the DMV right now and it was before ACA too.

Nobody believes that.

[EWURanger]

FFS, the ACA is a joke. If we're going to have universal HC, then let's have it. There's a reason no other western democracy follows this type of model, which is really just making the insurance companies even richer.

Not saying there haven't been any good aspects to come from the ACA, but by in large it's been a disaster. Single-payer is the only route if we're actually going to be serious about this subject.

[kalm]

It's worse than a trip to the DMV right now and it was before ACA too.

Nobody believes that.

Maybe the DMV sucks in your state, but the wait, paperwork, and inefficiencies associated with most medical offices I've been to in the last year is worse than the WS DOL whoch I've also visited. Sorry this upsets you.