Did You Just Sign Up for Health Insurance?
Open enrollment ended Sunday on the new health care exchanges. Did you sign up for health insurance? If so, some of you found the cost a bit more than you might have imagined. After all, while many refer to "Obamacare," the legislation that enabled these health care exchanges it is actually called the "Affordable Health Care Act." So, was your health insurance "affordable"?
You can certainly keep your premiums low by buying the "Bronze" coverage - the type that has high deductibles and co-pays. Of course, you've got to have five or six thousand in the bank to meet the initial deductible, and a few hundred, or even thousand, more to manage co-insurance and co-pays. How many Americans have this spare cash lying around?
When the initial millions finally signed up for the new Obamacare plans last go-round, a no-surprise story graced the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Here's a little snip from that story that captures what we all should have known since "health care reform" became law in 2010.
With these new sick people now enrolled, premiums may increase dramatically again, as they did last year when the new insurance policies designed for the health care "marketplace" mandated by Obamacare were unveiled. Those policies were priced in anticipation of having to accommodate people with these pre-existing conditions. But if more people with such conditions have enrolled than originally estimated by the insurance companies, that means premiums will rise yet again.
Of course, this leaves open the question of how such policies address a key objective of Obamacare: more affordable health care insurance options for all Americans, especially those who were/are uninsured. Common sense tells us that this cycle of increasing premiums will go on until either insurance companies calculate that they are charging enough premium to cover their anticipated costs.
Again, remember that the legislation passed in 2010 was called - ironically - the Affordable Care Act. Indeed the government agency in charge of health care reform, HHS (Health and Human Services), states on their website:
You can certainly keep your premiums low by buying the "Bronze" coverage - the type that has high deductibles and co-pays. Of course, you've got to have five or six thousand in the bank to meet the initial deductible, and a few hundred, or even thousand, more to manage co-insurance and co-pays. How many Americans have this spare cash lying around?
When the initial millions finally signed up for the new Obamacare plans last go-round, a no-surprise story graced the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Here's a little snip from that story that captures what we all should have known since "health care reform" became law in 2010.
...some insurers say enrollees so far appear less healthy than they had projected. "It's even worse than what we thought," said Patrick Getzen, chief actuary for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina. "We're seeing more chronic conditions than we would have expected," he said, and that will "put pressure on the 2015 rates." Among them are diabetes, depression, asthma, heart disease and cancer, he said.The article presents these facts as some sort of revelation, but it ought not be. Reason should have dictated that this would happen. Once insurer's could no longer screen applicants for pre-existing conditions, those with such conditions who could afford coverage signed up.
With these new sick people now enrolled, premiums may increase dramatically again, as they did last year when the new insurance policies designed for the health care "marketplace" mandated by Obamacare were unveiled. Those policies were priced in anticipation of having to accommodate people with these pre-existing conditions. But if more people with such conditions have enrolled than originally estimated by the insurance companies, that means premiums will rise yet again.
Of course, this leaves open the question of how such policies address a key objective of Obamacare: more affordable health care insurance options for all Americans, especially those who were/are uninsured. Common sense tells us that this cycle of increasing premiums will go on until either insurance companies calculate that they are charging enough premium to cover their anticipated costs.
Again, remember that the legislation passed in 2010 was called - ironically - the Affordable Care Act. Indeed the government agency in charge of health care reform, HHS (Health and Human Services), states on their website:
The Affordable Care Act puts consumers back in charge of their health care.So much for "affordable." The question now is how will the government respond if this trend continues. All along, some critics claimed that the legislation was designed to fail so that the government would be "forced" by circumstances to institute a single-payer system comparable to the sort of national health care found in many other countries. Right now is looks like that claim may hold some credence.
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