BY RICK MORAN | JANUARY 23, 2013
Health insurers jacking up rates by double digits in advance of Obamacare
This is only the beginning. What insurance rates will look like next year when Obamacare goes into effect is anyone's guess, but they will almost certainly be higher than they are today. And today, the costs for health insurance are skyrocketing.
Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers.
Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own. In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders, according to the insurers' filings with the state for 2013. These rate requests are all the more striking after a 39 percent rise sought by Anthem Blue Cross in 2010 helped give impetus to the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, which was passed the same year and will not be fully in effect until 2014.
In other states, like Florida and Ohio, insurers have been able to raise rates by at least 20 percent for some policy holders. The rate increases can amount to several hundred dollars a month. The proposed increases compare with about 4 percent for families with employer-based policies.
The more expensive premiums are, the larger the subsidies will be. This, of course, increases the cost of the program substantially, as will the unexpectedly high number of companies that will drop insurance coverage. It seems incredible that congress is actually going to allow the country to go through with this monstrosity. Meanwhile, before Obamacare even takes effect, we are paying for the stupidity of lawmakers in passing such a dangerous bill.
Printed from American Thinker
