Posted on 05/26/2013 11:24:17 AM PDT by HawkHogan
Yesterday, Covered California—the name given to the healthcare exchange created pursuant to the Affordable Care Act that will serve the largest population of insured citizens in the nation—released the premium rates submitted by participating health insurance companies for the three health insurance program categories (bronze, silver and gold) established by the Affordable Care Act, along with the catastrophic policy created for and available to those under the age of 30.
Upon reviewing the data, I was indeed shocked by the proposed premium rates—but not in the way you might expect. The jolt that I was experiencing was not the result of the predicted out-of-control premium costs but the shock of rates far lower than what I expected—even at the lowest end of the age scale.
So, why the all too popular narrative that Obamacare would mean unaffordable healthcare premium costs for so many Americans?
Setting aside the never-ending nonsense peddled by the opponents of healthcare reform, everyone from the Congressional Budget Office to numerous private actuaries have warned that premium shock could be expected to set in once the public began to see the reality of what Obamacare would mean to their pocketbooks. And yet, the only real jolt to the system being felt by these public and private prognosticators today is utter amazement over just how reasonable the California prices have turned out to be.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The rates announced were for ages 25 and 40. The catastrophic rates were close to the bronze rates, which indicates there’s an actuarial flaw somewhere.
And, not only are the rates tied to income, but the benefits are tied to income. On the same plan, a burger flipper has a $3 co-pay for an office visit, a middle income worker pays $45. There are no current policies where the benefits are income-indexed, so any comparison is meaningless.
http://www.coveredca.com/news/PDFs/CC_Health_Plans_Booklet.pdf
The benefits in the California plans are already means tested. Lower income patients get better benefits.
http://www.coveredca.com/news/PDFs/CC_Health_Plans_Booklet.pdf
why would co-pays be tied to income? that is weird.
FWIW: the average co-pay for the Bronze level is 40 percent.
So, the article’s comparison is a bit off... but not to the good side. The hypothetical dude is getting less for more.
Makes the rates look lower for the bottom income ranges. The California brochure makes several references to “income equality”... which loosely translates as “screw the productive”.
Out of curiosity, when you had to leave work, did anybody mention the HIPAA “mandatory issue” coverage to you? I had to find out on my own.
Not that I recall. I know HIPAA got going about three years before that. I was on COBRA for 18 months, then went to a temporary one year commercial plan then went to a state plan.
What happened there? Looks like she got slugged!
My status quo in health insurance was OK. The main driver in insurance is government policy. What I suspect is that there is a massive incentive to backload the costs. Democrats don’t want to be driven from government come 2014 & 2016.
One thing the average person doesn’t know or consider is that politicians plot their lives around election dates. Two years is the time horizon, although they plot out further. Leftists become centrists, centrists become rightists, and the reverse as well.
Manipulation is what they do. That these are “private” companies tells me nothing. The top insurer in the state begged off. That tells me more.
Well that didn’t take long:
Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare to Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums by 64-146%
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