North Carolinians Shocked By The Size Of Insurance Premium Increases Caused By Obamacare

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com ^ | October 7, 2013 | By John Hawkins

[Maelstorm]

How many Americans are being smashed by these same sort of crushing financial blows because of Obamacare? Across North Carolina, thousands of people have been shocked in recent weeks to find out their health insurance plans will be canceled at the end of the year – and premiums for comparable coverage could increase sharply. One of them is George Schwab of Charlotte, who pays $228 a month for his family’s $10,000 deductible plan from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. In a Sept. 23 letter, Blue Cross notified him that his current plan doesn’t meet benefit requirements outlined in the Affordable Care Act and suggested a comparable plan for $1,208 a month – $980 more than he now pays. “I’m 62 and retired,” Schwab said. “This creates a tremendous financial burden for our family. “The President told the American people numerous times that… ‘If you like your coverage, you can keep it,’” Schwab said. “How can we keep it if it has been eliminated? How can we keep it if the premium has been increased 430 percent in one year?”

[RegulatorCountry]

I know Coventry is, that’s who handles my health insurance. Blue Cross - Blue Shield is also, so there’s at least two.

[ameribbean expat]

Let’s hope it doesn’t.

[radiohead]

I just want to be a voice in the wilderness here - not everyone trying to get onto Obamacare is an Obama voter or a person expecting to go through life without paying.

People have been laid off, they’ve had their hours reduced and their insurance taken away. If they have medical needs and want insurance, they have no choice (since most will not willingly risk economic disaster and go without insurance) but to go to the exchanges. Then they get the shock of their lives if they thought the insurance would be affordable, as they were told by the government.

I’ve been looking around, to the extent I can get into the system, and find the premiums and deductibles outrageous. I don’t know how people making $30K or so, with or without kids, will afford it. How people are supposed to participate in the economy with 500-1000$ a month in premiums is beyond me.

[browniexyz]

So, maybe you have two — just like Kentucky, my state, which, like North Carolina, 20 years ago incorporated pieces of legislation designed to fit with the Clinton Health Security Act, which did not pass at the federal level, but affected the number of health insurance companies doing business in 23 states. Where 20 years ago North Carolinians had access to hundreds of plans through many many insurers, your choices have been severely diminished, which has driven up the cost of insurance, whether through the exchange or not. Whether you are aware of it or not.