Like many prescription drugs, Obamacare has side effects. From The Heritage Foundation:
"Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.”
It’s exactly what conservatives predicted. While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did estimate that Obamacare would cause health insurance premiums to rise, conservatives correctly pointed out that the CBO’s estimates were wildly optimistic. James Capretta wrote at the time:
"For weeks, experts have been warning that the Senate legislation would lead to serious “adverse selection” in the individual and small-group insurance markets. Adverse selection occurs when, on average, the pool of insured lives becomes less healthy over time compared to a relevant comparison group. The Senate bill would require insurers to take all comers, with heavily regulated rates. These rules would help those with chronic conditions get less expensive coverage. But they would also drive up premiums for the young and healthy.
…
CBO argues that risk-selection problems will be mitigated by the presence of new insurance subsidies, penalties for those who don’t get coverage, a once-a-year enrollment window which will limit the opportunity to come back into insurance, and the tendency for people to comply with mandates even if they are costly. But, as others have shown, even with subsidies, the cost of coverage for many low and moderate wage families will be very substantial. Many people could reduce their costs if they paid the penalty instead of premiums and signed up with insurance only when they really needed it. Would the fact that they might have to wait a few months before getting insurance be enough to keep them in coverage all year? Hard to predict. In fact, as pointed out here, it appears that none of most-cited models used to estimate the impact of health-reform plans, including CBO’s, has an explicit capacity to calibrate insurance take-up rates based on the penalties imposed on those who go without coverage. Apparently, the premium estimates are based as much on judgment as analytics, and CBO’s judgment is clearly on the optimistic side."
Knowing this, is it any surprise that Democrats are distancing themselves from their glorious crowning achievement? It's one of the central reasons why they'll get hammered in a few weeks. A number of news outlets have reported on health insurance rate hikes. The last link is the most comprehensive I've seen to date, and well worth the read & view.
Background Reading:
Dallas Morning News: As insurers face health care law requirements, customers face cancellations
LA Times: Health Net is cleared by state to raise premiums
WSJ: Health Insurers Plan Hikes
Health Insurance Tips & Advice: The TRUTH about ObamaCare
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