Obamacare Ripoff

So much for the $2,500 savings the average couple would realize. We have been sold a bill of goods plain and simple. As someone who lives in New York, my company has just gone through an excruciating chnage of plans after our current carrier hit us with an enormous increase. I;m sure that when our two year cointract with ou new carrier is up we're going to get it again. This is a direct result of combining guaranteed issue with community rating, and it is only going o get worse. This isn'twhat the founders had in mind.

New York Healthcare Premiums Are About To Explode

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AP

Insurance companies operating in New York State's marketplace are expected to ask for double-digit premium hikes next year, according to new filings from the companies.

Capital New York reports the average requested increase was 13%. The New York Post reports that number at about 12%. But the bigger insurers are seeking a bigger premium hike — according to Capital, the six most popular plans in New York are requesting an average increase of almost 15%. 

The Post reports that  Excellus Health Plan, which has about 24,000 customers, is requesting a 19.7% hike.  MVP Health Plan, which has nearly 33,000 customers, is seeking a 19% increase. New York's largest insurer on the exchange —  Health Republic Insurance of New York, which has 68,000 customers — is requesting a 15% increase.

The requests from states are being closely watched, after the end of the first open-enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act. According to the reports, insurers cited a number of reasons for the proposed premium hikes in their filings, including rising medical costs, having a sicker and/or older pool of customers, and new regulations and taxes levied by Obamacare.
"Our goal in pricing is to match expected medical spending — including medical costs, utilization and mandated coverage — with premiums. Other factors include plan design and new taxes and fees,"  Maria Gordon Shydlo, a spokeswoman at UnitedHealthCare, told the Post.

Health insurance premiums rise every year. But insurers' proposed increase is markedly higher than average — though there is little data with which it can directly be compared. According to a study released by the Commonwealth Fund, which supports the Affordable Care Act, individual health insurance premiums rose by more than 10% on average in the three years before President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law.

In 2008, according to the study premiums grew by an average of 9.9%, by 10.8% the following year, and by 11.7% in 2011.  According to the study, there was also considerable variation across states. For example, in 2008, premiums increased by about 3% in Iowa, compared with about 20% in Connecticut. 

Insurers within individual states have requested varying increases — and even decreases — so far next year. In Connecticut, two insurers are proposing to raise premiums by more than 10%, while one insurer, HealthyCT, is proposing almost a 9% decrease. 

Another example: In Arizona, Cigna requested an average rate hike of 14.4%. Humana, though, is looking for a startling 25.5% increase, according to The Arizona Republic.