Wasn't Obamacare supposed to prevent this from happening? Health insurance costs (as opposed to actual health care) is predicted to rise this year to as high as 38% in some cases for individuals and small company policies. Check your own exchange in your own states. What are the odds that it is going up in Texas as well?
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/H...305105001.html
- JD Barleycorn
- 05-30-2015, 06:30 AM
- algrace
- 05-30-2015, 12:22 PM
Odds are approaching 100% of health insurance companies offering coverage will take rate. Others will just elect not to do business in a state where their actuarial analysis suggests a less-than-profitable outcome.
Biggest reason: previously uninsured with existing untreated condition now gets care for said condition, and cost of care exceeds yearly premiums.
Biggest reason: previously uninsured with existing untreated condition now gets care for said condition, and cost of care exceeds yearly premiums.
- Whirlaway
- 05-30-2015, 12:43 PM
Don't bet on it; Democrats are very willing to cost shift and rob from Peter to pay Paul in their efforts to keep Obamacare afloat.
They are already sending millions of dollars to the insurance companies to keep them writing policies.....even tho many of those policies have unsustainable premiums and unaffordable deductibles.
Even in states that had premiums decline; the deductibles increased......how has that helped most Americans?
It hasn't
They are already sending millions of dollars to the insurance companies to keep them writing policies.....even tho many of those policies have unsustainable premiums and unaffordable deductibles.
Even in states that had premiums decline; the deductibles increased......how has that helped most Americans?
It hasn't
Odds are approaching 100% of health insurance companies offering coverage will take rate. Others will just elect not to do business in a state where their actuarial analysis suggests a less-than-profitable outcome.
Biggest reason: previously uninsured with existing untreated condition now gets care for said condition, and cost of care exceeds yearly premiums. Originally Posted by algrace
- WombRaider
- 05-30-2015, 02:48 PM
Wasn't Obamacare supposed to prevent this from happening? Health insurance costs (as opposed to actual health care) is predicted to rise this year to as high as 38% in some cases for individuals and small company policies. Check your own exchange in your own states. What are the odds that it is going up in Texas as well?No, it wasn't supposed to prevent this from happening. Your basic premise is incorrect.
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/H...305105001.html Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
- PizzaLover
- 05-30-2015, 03:34 PM
Health care premiums go up every year, the only question is how much.
At the current time it is unclear exactly how much premiums will go up for 2016. The rate increases you see in the press are REQUESTED increases, which have to be approved. Regulators will look to see if health insurers can justify their premium increases.
The health insurance companies are saying that their costs have increased due to increased claims over the last few years, most likely from people who now have health insurance but did not in the past, which is really a "pent-up demand" problem. Also, even people with insurance put off elective care during the Great Recession, and some of these people may be adding to the total amount of claims.
Health care premium increases have DECREASED since the implementation of Obamacare, but how much that is due to the ACA can't be proven.
The "affordable" in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is achieved by increasing Medicare eligibility (for the poor) and health care premium subsidies (for others).
Since the ACA relies on private hospitals, private insurers, and private doctors to deliver care, it doesn't strongly address the staggering health care cost increases in the U.S. that have been happening for the last 10-15 years.
At the current time it is unclear exactly how much premiums will go up for 2016. The rate increases you see in the press are REQUESTED increases, which have to be approved. Regulators will look to see if health insurers can justify their premium increases.
The health insurance companies are saying that their costs have increased due to increased claims over the last few years, most likely from people who now have health insurance but did not in the past, which is really a "pent-up demand" problem. Also, even people with insurance put off elective care during the Great Recession, and some of these people may be adding to the total amount of claims.
Health care premium increases have DECREASED since the implementation of Obamacare, but how much that is due to the ACA can't be proven.
The "affordable" in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is achieved by increasing Medicare eligibility (for the poor) and health care premium subsidies (for others).
Since the ACA relies on private hospitals, private insurers, and private doctors to deliver care, it doesn't strongly address the staggering health care cost increases in the U.S. that have been happening for the last 10-15 years.
- PizzaLover
- 05-30-2015, 03:46 PM
Don't bet on it; Democrats are very willing to cost shift and rob from Peter to pay Paul in their efforts to keep Obamacare afloat.You are misinformed. The ACA includes payments to health insurance companies in exchange for keeping state health care exchange plan premiums lower. THIS IS BY DESIGN, and this isn't "cost shifting" or "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
They are already sending millions of dollars to the insurance companies to keep them writing policies Originally Posted by Whirlaway
The ACA has a set of minimum required standards that every U.S. health plan must include. These standards include things like (1) covered preventative care, (2) no yearly maximums or lifetime maximums (3) no exclusion for pre-existing conditions.
Even in states that had premiums decline; the deductibles increased......how has that helped most Americans?
It hasn't Originally Posted by Whirlaway
For the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS, any deductible increases are NOT due to the ACA. 85% of Americans already had health insurance before the ACA (primarily through their employer), and the ACA has now raised that coverage to 92%.
Except for the minimum standards, the ACA has not impacted people who already had insurance before. For most people who get insurance through their employer, their health care hasn't changed much.
- IIFFOFRDB
- 05-30-2015, 07:12 PM
Fucking Omullahcare... LMAO!
Democrats see skimpy insurance as the next health care issue http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d4eef...lth-care-issue
WASHINGTON (AP) — A different health care issue has emerged for Democrats, in sync with the party's pitch to workers and middle-class voters ahead of next year's elections.
It's not the uninsured, but rather the problem of high out-of-pocket costs for people already covered.
Democrats call it "underinsurance."
After paying premiums, many low- and middle-income patients still face high costs when trying to use their coverage. There's growing concern that the value of a health insurance card is being eaten away by rising deductibles, the amount of actual medical costs that patients pay each year before coverage kicks in.
"I think it's going to be the next big problem," said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., a congressional leader on health care.
"We've got some 17 million more people covered ... but they can't access the care they seem to be entitled to," McDermott said. "It costs too much to use the care. That's the deceptive part about it."
Since virtually all U.S. residents are now required to have health insurance by President Barack Obama's health care law, McDermott said Democrats have a responsibility to make sure coverage translates to meaningful benefits.
Several liberal-leaning organizations have recently focused on the issue.
—A Commonwealth Fund study found that 31 million adults were underinsured last year. Half of them had problems with medical bills or medical debt. Seven million were underinsured due to high deductibles alone. "The steady growth in the proliferation and size of deductibles threatens to increase underinsurance in the years ahead," the study concluded.
—A study by the advocacy group Families USA found that one-quarter of the people with individual health insurance policies went without care in 2014 because they could not afford the out-of-pocket costs. The study singled out high deductibles.
—The Center for American Progress, a think tank often aligned with the White House, found that employers have been shifting a disproportionate burden of health care costs onto workers. As a result, the report said, employees and their families have not shared in the benefits of a prolonged lull in medical inflation. The group recommended several policy changes, including rebates for workers under certain conditions.
"Cost shifting is part of what makes people underinsured," said Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at the center. "There's an effort to raise the issue generally, and there's general recognition that this is a problem that needs to be addressed."
The insurance industry says the focus on deductibles and cost sharing is misplaced. It says the real problem is that the United States pays too much for medical care. Deductibles can be a legitimate tool for employers and insurers to steer patients to doctors and hospitals providing high-quality care at a reasonable cost. Some plans set lower amounts for services provided within a network.
"It can't be looked at in isolation," said Karen Ignagni, outgoing head of America's Health Insurance Plans, the main industry trade group.
Some consumers may prefer a high-deductible plan in exchange for lower monthly premiums, she added. "They are making a conscious decision to make that trade-off."
A wide body of research shows that out-of-pocket costs discourage people from getting medical care, but there is no agreed-upon standard of what constitutes "underinsurance."
The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that aims to improve the health care system, defines underinsurance as out-of-pocket costs that add up to 10 percent or more of household income, in most cases, or a deductible that amounts to 5 percent of income or higher.
Obama's Affordable Care Act set annual limits on out-of-pocket costs for most insurance plans, currently $6,600 for an individual policy and $13,200 for a family plan. It's better than no limit, but a stretch for many families.
Annual deductibles for employer plans averaged about $1,200 for employee-only coverage last year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Deductibles can be much higher for plans sold through the health law's insurance exchanges, averaging about $2,500 for single coverage under a midrange silver plan. But more than half of exchange customers receive additional government subsidies to reduce their cost sharing.
Democrats need an election-year health care narrative about how to improve Obama's law, said Robert Blendon, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"The issue that has come up repeatedly is the impact that high deductibles are having on moderate income people," he said.
Democrats see skimpy insurance as the next health care issue http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d4eef...lth-care-issue
WASHINGTON (AP) — A different health care issue has emerged for Democrats, in sync with the party's pitch to workers and middle-class voters ahead of next year's elections.
It's not the uninsured, but rather the problem of high out-of-pocket costs for people already covered.
Democrats call it "underinsurance."
After paying premiums, many low- and middle-income patients still face high costs when trying to use their coverage. There's growing concern that the value of a health insurance card is being eaten away by rising deductibles, the amount of actual medical costs that patients pay each year before coverage kicks in.
"I think it's going to be the next big problem," said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., a congressional leader on health care.
"We've got some 17 million more people covered ... but they can't access the care they seem to be entitled to," McDermott said. "It costs too much to use the care. That's the deceptive part about it."
Since virtually all U.S. residents are now required to have health insurance by President Barack Obama's health care law, McDermott said Democrats have a responsibility to make sure coverage translates to meaningful benefits.
Several liberal-leaning organizations have recently focused on the issue.
—A Commonwealth Fund study found that 31 million adults were underinsured last year. Half of them had problems with medical bills or medical debt. Seven million were underinsured due to high deductibles alone. "The steady growth in the proliferation and size of deductibles threatens to increase underinsurance in the years ahead," the study concluded.
—A study by the advocacy group Families USA found that one-quarter of the people with individual health insurance policies went without care in 2014 because they could not afford the out-of-pocket costs. The study singled out high deductibles.
—The Center for American Progress, a think tank often aligned with the White House, found that employers have been shifting a disproportionate burden of health care costs onto workers. As a result, the report said, employees and their families have not shared in the benefits of a prolonged lull in medical inflation. The group recommended several policy changes, including rebates for workers under certain conditions.
"Cost shifting is part of what makes people underinsured," said Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at the center. "There's an effort to raise the issue generally, and there's general recognition that this is a problem that needs to be addressed."
The insurance industry says the focus on deductibles and cost sharing is misplaced. It says the real problem is that the United States pays too much for medical care. Deductibles can be a legitimate tool for employers and insurers to steer patients to doctors and hospitals providing high-quality care at a reasonable cost. Some plans set lower amounts for services provided within a network.
"It can't be looked at in isolation," said Karen Ignagni, outgoing head of America's Health Insurance Plans, the main industry trade group.
Some consumers may prefer a high-deductible plan in exchange for lower monthly premiums, she added. "They are making a conscious decision to make that trade-off."
A wide body of research shows that out-of-pocket costs discourage people from getting medical care, but there is no agreed-upon standard of what constitutes "underinsurance."
The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that aims to improve the health care system, defines underinsurance as out-of-pocket costs that add up to 10 percent or more of household income, in most cases, or a deductible that amounts to 5 percent of income or higher.
Obama's Affordable Care Act set annual limits on out-of-pocket costs for most insurance plans, currently $6,600 for an individual policy and $13,200 for a family plan. It's better than no limit, but a stretch for many families.
Annual deductibles for employer plans averaged about $1,200 for employee-only coverage last year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Deductibles can be much higher for plans sold through the health law's insurance exchanges, averaging about $2,500 for single coverage under a midrange silver plan. But more than half of exchange customers receive additional government subsidies to reduce their cost sharing.
Democrats need an election-year health care narrative about how to improve Obama's law, said Robert Blendon, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"The issue that has come up repeatedly is the impact that high deductibles are having on moderate income people," he said.
- JD Barleycorn
- 05-30-2015, 07:48 PM
Nope Baby Killer, you're wrong again. You're making a lot of statements these days that are just plain wrong.
The whole point as pointed out by the Big O was the healthcare insurance was too high. His program would fix that. Obamacare which is actually called the Affordable Care Act belies what you say. Maybe, just maybe no one can find Obama actually saying the words, "my program will lessen the cost of health insurance for everyone" but the message was clear. Polling and videos show that is the message that people got as was intended.
The whole point as pointed out by the Big O was the healthcare insurance was too high. His program would fix that. Obamacare which is actually called the Affordable Care Act belies what you say. Maybe, just maybe no one can find Obama actually saying the words, "my program will lessen the cost of health insurance for everyone" but the message was clear. Polling and videos show that is the message that people got as was intended.
- WombRaider
- 05-30-2015, 08:35 PM
Nope Baby Killer, you're wrong again. You're making a lot of statements these days that are just plain wrong.You fail to understand just about everything. Insurance costs go up each year. If they go up LESS, you have saved money. Get it? Jesus Christ.
The whole point as pointed out by the Big O was the healthcare insurance was too high. His program would fix that. Obamacare which is actually called the Affordable Care Act belies what you say. Maybe, just maybe no one can find Obama actually saying the words, "my program will lessen the cost of health insurance for everyone" but the message was clear. Polling and videos show that is the message that people got as was intended. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
And his point was to get more people insured. You can't even get that part right. The costs increasing less year over year, was a byproduct of more people having coverage.
- JD Barleycorn
- 05-31-2015, 03:23 AM
You fail to understand just about everything. Insurance costs go up each year. If they go up LESS, you have saved money. Get it? Jesus Christ.You really don't understand marketing do you? You must be a woman if you think that spending more is "saving" money.
And his point was to get more people insured. You can't even get that part right. The costs increasing less year over year, was a byproduct of more people having coverage. Originally Posted by WombRaider
Jesus Christ? I thought you didn't believe in some Jewish carpenter. Hypocrite! Fraud! Penis Lover!
- flghtr65
- 05-31-2015, 03:39 AM
Odds are approaching 100% of health insurance companies offering coverage will take rate. Others will just elect not to do business in a state where their actuarial analysis suggests a less-than-profitable outcome.You are correct on both points. The health insurance companies do not have to sell policies on the government exchanges if they don't want to. The reason for the individual mandate was to create a risk pool that contained a mixture of low risk and high risk policyholders. A certain percentage of younger healthy people (low risk) elected to pay the first year $94 fine instead buying a policy and becoming insured. So, in some states, for some health insurance companies the claims paid out for sick people exceeded premiums collected.
Biggest reason: previously uninsured with existing untreated condition now gets care for said condition, and cost of care exceeds yearly premiums. Originally Posted by algrace
- flghtr65
- 05-31-2015, 03:54 AM
You are misinformed. The ACA includes payments to health insurance companies in exchange for keeping state health care exchange plan premiums lower. THIS IS BY DESIGN, and this isn't "cost shifting" or "robbing Peter to pay Paul".+1,000,000,000
The ACA has a set of minimum required standards that every U.S. health plan must include. These standards include things like (1) covered preventative care, (2) no yearly maximums or lifetime maximums (3) no exclusion for pre-existing conditions.
For the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS, any deductible increases are NOT due to the ACA. 85% of Americans already had health insurance before the ACA (primarily through their employer), and the ACA has now raised that coverage to 92%.
Except for the minimum standards, the ACA has not impacted people who already had insurance before. For most people who get insurance through their employer, their health care hasn't changed much. Originally Posted by PizzaLover
You nailed it. This increase from 85% to 92% is the 15 million people purchasing health insurance on the government exchanges and those getting the expanded Medicaid (family of 4 whose income is less than $24,000). With the implementation of the ACA 92% of all citizens age 65 and under have health insurance coverage.
- WombRaider
- 05-31-2015, 04:47 AM
You really don't understand marketing do you? You must be a woman if you think that spending more is "saving" money.You're not spending more. Listen, I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you too. You've got to do that part on your own. Insurance costs go up each year. If they were going to go up $100 and they only went up $30 instead, you have saved money. I don't know how you don't understand that. And I'm not sure what you think marketing has to do with the ability to understand that fact?
Jesus Christ? I thought you didn't believe in some Jewish carpenter. Hypocrite! Fraud! Penis Lover! Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
And to latch on to my use of jesus christ as an expletive is goddamn lame. Even for you. It's like you're a very cheap and much stupider version of Lusty the Rusty Balloon Knot Retard.
- WombRaider
- 05-31-2015, 04:50 AM
You are correct on both points. The health insurance companies do not have to sell policies on the government exchanges if they don't want to. The reason for the individual mandate was to create a risk pool that contained a mixture of low risk and high risk policyholders. A certain percentage of younger healthy people (low risk) elected to pay the first year $94 fine instead buying a policy and becoming insured. So, in some states, for some health insurance companies the claims paid out for sick people exceeded premiums collected. Originally Posted by flghtr65You have to understand that the majority of these knuckledraggers can't even understand that simple point. All they know about Obamacare is what they hear from Limbaugh and the rest of the dumbasses. They start hearing the socialist drumbeat and their asshole puckers up a bit. What they don't get is as the fine increases, more of the healthy people will enter the risk pool and help to balance it out with the existing high-risk policyholders. That simple fact eludes them. It was designed that way. They're ready to trash it before it even gets a head of steam. And they can't even tell you why.
- Whirlaway
- 05-31-2015, 11:34 AM
Don't bet on it; Democrats are very willing to cost shift and rob from Peter to pay Paul in their efforts to keep Obamacare afloat....
They are already sending millions of dollars to the insurance companies to keep them writing policies.....even tho many of those policies have unsustainable premiums and unaffordable deductibles.
Even in states that had premiums decline; the deductibles increased......how has that helped most Americans?
It hasn't Originally Posted by Whirlaway
Blah, blah blah........Obama cut funding to Medicare to pay for Obamacare. That is the very definition of robbing peter to pay paul. And there is no denying that the way Obamacare prices the high risk pre-existing conditions premiums is cost shifting.....from the very sick to the healthy and young.
And the Congressional Budget Office agrees with me that Obamacare has accelerated the problem of cost shifting in the health insurance industry, not reduced it. Many of the new enrollees in Obamacare are guided into Medicaid. Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals are so low that the program creates a cost shift of its own. In fact, a long line of academic research shows that low rates of Medicaid reimbursement translate into higher prices for the privately insured -WTF do you think Cost Shifting Is?
And the greatest cost shifting is the shifting of costs from Employers to employees under Obamacare.....many employers are eliminating coverage, requiring greater employee contributions, and higher out of pocket deductibles. In other words = COST SHIFTING.
You are misinformed. The ACA includes payments to health insurance companies in exchange for keeping state health care exchange plan premiums lower. THIS IS BY DESIGN, and this isn't "cost shifting" or "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
The ACA has a set of minimum required standards that every U.S. health plan must include. These standards include things like (1) covered preventative care, (2) no yearly maximums or lifetime maximums (3) no exclusion for pre-existing conditions.
For the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS, any deductible increases are NOT due to the ACA. 85% of Americans already had health insurance before the ACA (primarily through their employer), and the ACA has now raised that coverage to 92%.
Except for the minimum standards, the ACA has not impacted people who already had insurance before. For most people who get insurance through their employer, their health care hasn't changed much. Originally Posted by PizzaLover