Althouse: "Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers..."

January 6, 2013

"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."

72 comments:

campy said...: "... even though one of the biggest STATED objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers."

Fixed.; 1/6/13, 6:43 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/6/13, 6:44 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: We will all pay more for Obamacare through higher premiums and higher taxes. You know, because it's free!. Thank you, santa.

The fix is in. As soon as the competitive health care market is destroyed, only a few of the big insurance companies will be left standing. They will willingly be taken over by the government (with sweet payoffs to the higher-ups) and we will have single payer government controlled "gotta ask permission first" health care.
It will be horrid.; 1/6/13, 6:49 AM
AllenS said...: Most commenters on this blog are not surprised. Exceptions are the libs.; 1/6/13, 6:56 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: The good news is we're finding out what's in it.; 1/6/13, 7:08 AM
rhhardin said...: Insurance companies like higher costs. They're not on the side you'd imagine.

The more it costs, the more people need insurance against it who had formerly just paid for whatever it was.

More customers for insurance.; 1/6/13, 7:11 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: As usual, those who designed this thing have confused price control with cost control.; 1/6/13, 7:17 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: As usual, those who designed this thing have confused price control with cost control.; 1/6/13, 7:17 AM
robinintn said...: "Seeking and winning"? Hell, all ours did was send a notice informing. Someone has to pay for all that free stuff. Not surprisingly, it turns out to be the low-consumption 18-year-olds, not the insurance company.; 1/6/13, 7:24 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The greater the demand for "free", the higher the cost will be....; 1/6/13, 7:25 AM
Fernandinande said...: "...even though ... Obama ... "

"Even though" = "because". Duh.; 1/6/13, 7:27 AM
Humperdink said...: Small business owner here. Since OweBama care became law, my health insurance premiums have gone from $8,000/year to $13,000/year.; 1/6/13, 7:27 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Vilification of health insurance companies is part of the plan. How dare they seek to cover the new higher costs of doing business under Obama Care.
Insurance companies are now forced to cover everything, despite the risk. The whole idea of buying health insurance in case of an emergency and covering the small cost on your own, is out the window.; 1/6/13, 7:48 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: If the federal government ran the auto insurance industry the way it runs health insurance, a set of replacement tires would cost $4,000. And the pols would pat themselves on the back for making the evil insurance companies cover this necessity. And with deductibles and co-insurance, the consumer would only pay about $300-400. Which would be, you know, such an improvement over the evil free-market system.; 1/6/13, 7:56 AM
Mel said...: I work in healthcare billing; I deal with insurers every day. Every state whose Medicaid system I deal with is going to an "HMO" model where companies like Anthem and Aetna cover medicaid recipients. Great for the recipients I guess, but the state pays the insurer less for those people & the premium increases get passed on to commercial customers. In addition, the PPACA says that these companies have to offer coverage without medical underwriting. Great for people with pre-existing chronic conditions, but now all people share the increased cost of those policies. No surprise that the cost of insuring the population of a state the size of California has gone up.
What got me about the article was this line: The proposed increases compare with about 4 percent for families with employer-based policies.
4% out of my pocket, yes. The other 16% of the increase is being paid by my employer and means that raises this year didn't even offset the end of the payroll tax holiday, much less keep up with inflation.; 1/6/13, 8:13 AM
Anonymous said...: I wonder when supporters will be surprised at the cost increases? They're oblivious to reality, but some are noticing the SS tax change.; 1/6/13, 8:13 AM
Astro said...: A couple years ago, when I became self-employed, I bought my own health insurance from a well-known national health insurance company. Since I'm in reasonably good health I bought a high-deductible policy, with fairly low monthly premiums.
I got a note from my company that my insurance premium will be a few dollars less starting next month.

Looking back, I wished I'd bought my own private health insurance years ago, and not lived in the fools' paradise of employer-sponsored health insurance.; 1/6/13, 8:25 AM
Brian Brown said...: Wait, a bunch of silly, ignorant, inexperienced in the real world dipshits, like Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and Steny Hoyer didn't see that their 'reform' bill wouldn't reduce costs?

GET OUT!!!; 1/6/13, 8:30 AM
Clyde said...: It's not going to be cheaper for either the health care providers or the health care consumers under Obamacare. But the government health care regulators and apparatchiks -- they're gonna make out like Jesse James, baby. Or maybe Bernie Madoff might be a better comparison.

Best new job for 2013: IRS Agent, since they'll be enforcing Obamacare to make sure that everyone has their government-mandated health insurance come 2014.

Nice job, lady-parts voters.; 1/6/13, 8:46 AM
jr565 said...: And lets not forget the EPA rules about to go into effect that will drive up fuel costs and thus costs of everything else.

And lets not,forget the 2% cut in payroll 70% of Americans just got.

If is not the taxes it's going to,be everything else that will gut the poor and middle class.

Thanks, Obama.; 1/6/13, 8:49 AM
jr565 said...: Humperdinck wrote:

Small business owner here. Since OweBama care became law, my health insurance premiums have gone from $8,000/year to $13,000/year.

Nice! You saved 5000 bucks a year, that's some savings. Oh wait....; 1/6/13, 8:52 AM
jr565 said...: I also notice that such topics tend to get fewer responses from the Inga's, garage mahal's and Ritmo's of the board.

I wonder why that is.; 1/6/13, 8:53 AM
Fr Martin Fox said...: Don't forget that the new law forces some rates artificially low. How does that get made up? In Progressiveland, the magic money tree provides it. In reality, someone else pays.; 1/6/13, 8:54 AM
Brian Brown said...: Small business owner here. Since OweBama care became law, my health insurance premiums have gone from $8,000/year to $13,000/year

But see, to the true believers, they will simply blame greedy insurance companies!

The government is always benevolent and wise.; 1/6/13, 8:55 AM
jacksonjay said...: SUCKERS!!!!; 1/6/13, 9:06 AM
Brian Brown said...: jacksonjay said...
SUCKERS!!!!

Remember when Obama told you Obamacare would lower your health insurance by $2,500?; 1/6/13, 9:13 AM
jacksonjay said...: SUCKERS!!!!; 1/6/13, 9:15 AM
dd said...: Politicians do not want single payer. Under single payer when costs rise increasing taxes and lowering quality of care the politicians will be blamed. However, under the current system the politicians make the rules but the insurance companies ultimately bill the citizens and provide the services so they take the blame. Political genius.
I do not know why any politician would be dumb enough to actually ask for single payer with citizens who cannot or will not see the truth and a media that will not investigate the issues (no discussion in article about why costs are rising); 1/6/13, 9:31 AM
edutcher said...: Everything Barack Obama says has an expiration date.

Rush Limbaugh, 2008.

In some cases, immediately after it's said.

Me, now.

PS If it wasn't there before (and I think it was), there's gonna be an awful lot of sticker shock and buyer's remorse in the ranks of the Obamatrons.; 1/6/13, 9:33 AM
cubanbob said...: The rules are being made so no one knows what will be coming down the pike. Right now as it stands the employer subject to the ACA must provide a qualified plan for the employee that has the following conditions:
1-85% must be employer paid.
2-the employee cannot pay more than 9.5% of gross household income up to 4 times the federal poverty rate for a family of 4.
3-the employer plan must allow for child coverage but does not require spousal coverage.
4- the employer is not required to pay for the child coverage. Only offer a qualified "affordable" child coverage.
5-the exchanges are supposed to calculate the difference between what the employer pays and what the family income is less any other employer paid plan ( spouse's plan presumably or Medicaid ) and calculate the employer's penalty.
6-insurance companies must payout 85% of premiums collected in care or refund the difference.
7-if the the aggregate numbers of hours worked by part time employees exceeds a certain number over a set period of time, no matter how few hours a particular employee worked the employer is required is required to provide them with coverage.

Does anyone really believe this will work?; 1/6/13, 9:38 AM
Unknown said...: It's the Republican's fault.
I don't know how or why it is. I just feel like it must be.
After all it's the Republicans who hate.; 1/6/13, 9:47 AM
KCFleming said...: Things are going to get ugly and soon. There will be large numbers of Americans without insurance for real, not those fake 41 million the Dems used as propaganda. The system will implode much faster than they expected, and Obamacare was not designed for a national health system, but to dissolve the old one and set the stage.

They thought it would be a series of orderly failures, but it will collapse quickly as businesses fire employees and cease to offer health insurance in large numbers.

I also expect doctors to go on strike within the next two years. First in California and Massachusetts, then beyond. One more nonproductive union. Nurses will strike sooner, and repeatedly.

The people I work with are frightened and angry. Predictably, not at Obamacare.; 1/6/13, 9:56 AM
cubanbob said...: It's even worse than what I mentioned in my earlier post.

Not every state is setting up exchanges but many employers have employees or employees with covered family members that have covered individuals living in states that have exchanges and those that don't. No employer can calculate what the penalties will be for various reasons.

Medicare eligible employees count toward the census but are for the employer exempted from the penalties.

If ever a scheme was designed to disincentivize employer hiring the young and middle aged worker it's tough to beat this.; 1/6/13, 9:59 AM
Anonymous said...: @cubanbob said...

As I understand it, ACA's penatlies, ratios and supports are focused on getting the employer to provide 'employee' coverage. The is little or no incentive for an employer to provide support to the family side of coverages. Many employers will shift resources to meet ACA requirements, and family policies will jump. Oh, the ability to use the exchanges is based on the lack of employee coverage, not the price of covering your family...; 1/6/13, 10:05 AM
Unknown said...: The goal of Obamacare was never stated by its proponents except between themselves. It is intended to end private health care beginning with the ruin of private health insurance. When it fails in its stated goal it will be "reformed", using however many intermediate steps are necessary, into single payer health care.; 1/6/13, 10:05 AM
Roger Zimmerman said...: I suspect that the leftists on this board will claim that they knew this would happen, and that the only solution is single payer.

In one sense, I agree that honest socialist control of the health care economy (and thus health care itself) is better than the fascism (de facto government control, with a veneer of private ownership) which is the current ACA. With honest socialism, it will be harder to blame "capitalism" for the essentially government failure, not that some won't try.

But, the leftists are deluding themselves if they believe that full government control will magically change the economics. In fact, they will be worse: there will be even fewer incentives to control cost through innovation, since getting paid through rent seeking will be much easier. And, they won't even get their venerated "equality", since the politically connected will be sure to have access to the best that remains, and the wealthy will take advantage of the inevitable grey and black markets.; 1/6/13, 10:09 AM
Seeing Red said...: Part of Obama's continuing war on SAHMs.

Just like the banking bill.

Julia's good, married bad.

Another part of the war on SAHMs via Insty yesterday:

A woman hiding in her attic with children shot an intruder multiple times before fleeing to safety Friday.

The incident happened at a home on Henderson Ridge Lane in Loganville around 1 p.m. The woman was working in an upstairs office when she spotted a strange man outside a window, according to Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman. He said she took her 9-year-old twins to a crawlspace before the man broke in using a crowbar.

But the man eventually found the family.

“The perpetrator opens that door. Of course, at that time he’s staring at her, her two children and a .38 revolver,” Chapman told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh.

The woman then shot him five times, but he survived, Chapman said. He said the woman ran out of bullets but threatened to shoot the intruder if he moved.

“She’s standing over him, and she realizes she’s fired all six rounds. And the guy’s telling her to quit shooting,” Chapman said.

The woman ran to a neighbor’s home with her children. The intruder attempted to flee in his car but crashed into a wooded area and collapsed in a nearby driveway, Chapman said.

This was also on Insty regarding Obamacare:

UPDATE: Dr. Peter Grout writes:

Thanks for the post. Many of us have been trying to point out basic facts to our colleagues, but most ears are deaf. Sadly, our professional organization, the AVMA is politically correct and useless.

They accredit new schools, and fund new “diversity” chairs. Meanwhile, last week 17,000 veterinarians (about 1/4 of total!) were informed last week that AVMA’s health insurance program (through NY Life) will be dropping ALL of us at the end of 2013. Including dependents, about 36,000 people are losing their coverage. We will be forced onto the OCare exchanges. And the loss of our coverage is certainly not deemed newsworthy.

Senator Landrieu’s health care rep, Peter said we were losing our choice since others did not have the same choice. I guess it wasn’t “fair” that we have all worked hard to have this choice. And AVMA has done diddley to prevent this.

People only care about you if you can be characterized as a victim of something other than the federal government. . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jason Van Steenwyk writes: “Quick point of order on the Veterinarian’s email to you… NY Life is not in the health insurance business. That was some other company dropping them, or more likely, Association themselves. A NYLIC agent may also contract and sell other company’s health policies on the side, but NY Life had nothing to do with this.”

MORE: Dr. Grout responds: “I assure you, it was NY Life who is dropping us. They have underwritten AVMA-GHLIT for 20 years. I am on duty until Monday morning, but will be happy to fax or email a copy of the letter after that. Or, should you be interested, you can probably confirm at AVMA-GHLIT’s website. Also Peter at Sen. Landrieu’s office confirmed this. Perhaps Mr Van Steenwyk is correct in the fact that, due to OCare they are leaving the major medical business for groups.”

Beats me.; 1/6/13, 10:13 AM
Seeing Red said...: Canada doesn't have single-payer anymore, remember when Canada was touted by Hillary as a model for Hillarycare?; 1/6/13, 10:20 AM
Seeing Red said...: Cayman's gonna be building a med center for med tourism.

Save your pennies, we'll be doing what the Canucks were doing for years.

Or we will go to Canada.; 1/6/13, 10:22 AM
Seeing Red said...: This will be coming here in a few years, or as I call it, "Bad Luck."

From Samizdata:

It’s the NHS first got me thinking how the power of the narrative distorts so much of how organisations & ideas are viewed. This one starts; “Staffed by dedicated doctors & caring nurses the British National Health Service is the envy of the world…”

It runs for a couple of paragraphs, was first written the day before its inception & has been repeated so many times it’s probably encoded somewhere down in our DNA by now. It’s not just that the public believe it. Almost everyone connected to the NHS do as well. Doctors, nurses, administrators, politicians. Even most of the media. It makes it impossible for any of them to view it with a clear eye.

The incidents quoted above… others much worse we’ve heard about in the last few years… they should be part of the narrative as well but it just rewrites itself over them. Edits them away so the next time comes as exactly the same shock as the one before & the one before that. No-one actually learns any lessons or does anything because the narrative reassures them it’s not necessary. They’re just aberrations. Momentary & inexplicable blips in an otherwise perfect system. Or just signs that even more money needs tipping into it. That the engine that’s coughing & banging & spewing out smoke & broken parts would be running as sweet as a sewing machine with just a little more fuel.

- Commenter ‘Bloke in Spain’; 1/6/13, 10:26 AM
cubanbob said...: Sarge I got my info from my insurance agent who got the info from United Health ( they are certainly on top of this) and confirmed by a CPA benefits division. Employers have to provide the dependent plan coverage although as of now they don't have to pay for it. The problem with the exchanges is that among other things the employee isn't required to take the employer coverage. A minimum wage employee who is Medicaid qualified would probably prefer to take Medicaid versus having to pay a premium plus have the out of pocket deductibles in the employer's plan. Smart for the employee but horrible for the employer since the exchange will then calculate what the employer should have paid and then levy a non tax deductible penalty. The employer can't calculate the cost in advance. Some incentive to hire the poor.

As I said before the rules are being promulgated now by the IRS and the HHS. No one knows what will be the final plan but logically if the goal is to cover everyone and shift the maximum costs to the private sector the ultimately the rules will require employer paid family coverages. Just another unfunded federal mandate which is why a number of states opted out of the exchanges. In states without exchanges the IRS will have to determine the penalty.; 1/6/13, 10:46 AM
Seeing Red said...: Plus the $63 head tax to cover pre-existing conditions.; 1/6/13, 10:53 AM
Ambrose said...: There will be two reactions from our chattering classes. This is the GOP's fault, and it proves we need a single payor system.; 1/6/13, 10:55 AM
Brian Brown said...: Hey wingnuts, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor!; 1/6/13, 10:55 AM
kentuckyliz said...: Anyone complaining about their increased health care plan premiums (co-pays, deductibles)--I ask who did you vote for? If they say Obama, I say,this is what you voted for. Congrats. Elections have consequences.; 1/6/13, 10:57 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Told. You. So.

Who didn't see that when you make a company provide more services, cover more procedures, be forced to cover everyone even the very ill who will use more of the available services and therefore drive demand up....that the company is going to have to charge more in order to continue to survive.

Dumocrats....>THAT'S who.; 1/6/13, 11:05 AM
jacksonjay said...: Of course the GOP is to blame. Four years of obstruction to every Obama proposal obviously led to higher premiums!; 1/6/13, 11:06 AM
Charlie Currie said...: No one cares, or should care, more about your health than you do. If you are not reading everything you can about health and nutrition, and doing everything possible to improve and maintain your health, you are condemning yourself to the system.

Best advise, don't always believe conventional wisdom, or your doctor - question everything.

Emergency room doctors and surgeons are incredible practitioners and worthy of their praise. However, when it comes to curing chronic disease, doctors have a very poor record. They are very good at treating the symptoms (giving you drugs based on what the pharmaceutical industry is pushing this week), but are very poor at discovering the cause and eliminating it.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” - Hippocrates

Words to live by...literally.

Be well.

Cheers; 1/6/13, 11:18 AM
acm said...: But...the birth control is free, right? And the lunch, there is still such a thing as a free lunch, right?; 1/6/13, 11:22 AM
Sydney said...: I volunteer at a free health clinic for the uninsured working poor. One of the other volunteers was wondering if the clinic would survive Obamacare because soon everyone would have insurance. I told her I thought business would boom under Obamacare. No one is going to be able to afford insurance in the near future.; 1/6/13, 11:27 AM
CWJ said...: Price increases will be blamed on greedy insurance companies. Our left of center commenters will arrive with that news as soon as the talking point becomes official. In the meantime, there's nothing for than to say.; 1/6/13, 11:45 AM
CWJ said...: Side note. My insurer, BC/BS KC congratulated itself for the second year in a row that they had kept premium rate increases under 10%. I did the math. In each year the increase was 9.9%. I doubt that was coincidence, and smacks of someone strapping down the safety valve on the pressure cooker.; 1/6/13, 11:51 AM
cubanbob said...: Chuck your going to be the healthiest guy in the grave.
Hate to break it to you but nature didn't design us to be healthy past 40. Sure eating right, excersizing and avoiding smoking, boozing, drugging and the like will allow you to live longer or at least healthier but if you live long enough you will most likely die from a chronic illness. Or an acute cause of death brought on by underlying chronic illness.; 1/6/13, 11:53 AM
Anonymous said...: DBQ said...
....that the company is going to have to charge more in order to continue to survive.

to expand;

....that the company is going to have to charge EVERYBODY more in order to continue to survive.

And since they can no longer spread the costs, risks, and premiums based on risk, the young and healthy are going to really get screwed.; 1/6/13, 12:41 PM
Brian Brown said...: HA HA HA HA HA
AAAAHAHAHAHAHAH

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Q: Will this new insurance regulation drive up my health insurance costs?

A: No. The grandfather rule is designed to preserve the ability of Americans to keep their current plan if they like it, while providing new benefits. Other provisions of the Affordable Care Act aim to make health insurance premiums more affordable.; 1/6/13, 1:10 PM
Jerome said...: Astro,

You realize that this (2013) is the last year you will be able to get that high-deductible policy, right? I have one too. I have been trying to figure out what I am supposed to do when it becomes illegal. I have decided the best bet is to get some shotguns.; 1/6/13, 1:11 PM
MadisonMan said...: Two years ago, before Scott Walker, I paid $640 total in Health Care costs.

This year I paid $5400.

I blame Obama?; 1/6/13, 1:40 PM
jacksonjay said...: Hey MadisonMan, how much did you pay into your public pension?; 1/6/13, 2:13 PM
Birches said...: The sneakiest part of Obamacare is the fact that dependent care doesn't have to be affordable and that they don't have to provide spousal coverage at all.

My spouse works for a large defense contractor. To include me (a SAHM) on this health coverage this year, it is costing us an additional $24/WEEK. I imagine the cost will only go up.; 1/6/13, 2:31 PM
Anonymous said...: rhhardin: Insurance companies like higher costs. They're not on the side you'd imagine.

During the debate on O-care I liked to troll people and ask why they were so all-fired enthusiastic about legislation that was effectively written by the "greedy corporations" that were allegedly screwing them right now. Blank stares. Glazed eyes. But, but...universal health care!

I guess some people don't mind being buggered, gutted, and fricaseed, as long as you bamboozle them into believing the "good guys" are doing it.; 1/6/13, 2:34 PM
Anonymous said...: jr565: I also notice that such topics tend to get fewer responses from the Inga's, garage mahal's and Ritmo's of the board.

I wonder why that is.

Be grateful for small mercies. At least the thread won't be trashed by high-volume looney-logic, or a certain someone contriving to make every goddamn topic she sticks her nose into all about a certain someone.; 1/6/13, 2:36 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Two years ago, before Scott Walker, I paid $640 total in Health Care costs.

This year I paid $5400.

I blame Obama?

And the taxpayers picked up the additional 9 to 10K that represents the balance of your insurance premiums (assuming that your coverage cost is similar to California public employees).

You still made out like a bandit!!!; 1/6/13, 3:07 PM
Paul said...: Well as P.T. Barnum said, "A fool is born every minute".

Suckers thought Obamacare would be 'free' and/or 'cheap' while never thinking that TINSTAAFL rules.

Yes Virginia, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. Even Obama's 20 million dollar vacations are not 'free'. SOMEONE is paying for it.; 1/6/13, 4:04 PM
Kirk Parker said...: "... even though one of the biggest PRETENCES of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers."

Fixed ^ 2.; 1/6/13, 7:24 PM
Charlie Currie said...: Well Cubanbob, I guess my 93 year old mother and my 66 year old self are freaks of nature.

It's all environmental.

Cheers; 1/6/13, 10:44 PM
Peter said...: The key is the word "affordable."

At one time, "affordable" implied that the cost of something was such that most people could afford it. But, the word has been thoroughly corrupted.

"Affordable housing" may once have meant "low rent," but today it is a euphemism for "government subsidized." The actual cost may be high; what makes it "affordable" is the subsidy.

And so too with "affordable care." The actual cost may break the federal budget and make it uneconomical to employ low-skilled people- but so long as the price to the end user is low, it's said to be "affordable."; 1/7/13, 9:52 AM
RonF said...: The objective of Obamacare was to make it so expensive for health insurance companies to provide health insurance in competition against the government that they would be forced out of business, changing our health care system into a government-run single payer system.

What? That isn't what Pres. Obama said? So what? You believed what he said? How naive.; 1/7/13, 1:39 PM
herbert said...: Well, it is good to see the post and it is very good that companies are increasing their premium and helping the customers a lot as well. It is allowing these companies to win the award for sure, but with that people will also be allowed to get more benefits. Companies providing help with insurance Idaho Falls are also increasing and allowing the customers to get benefits of that.; 2/1/13, 12:33 AM
Unknown said...: Now, that's good news for insurance insurance companies such as Bellevue insurance and consumers, but only to some few. Hopefully that extends to all insurance consumers.; 2/1/13, 5:07 PM
Unknown said...: Insurance is one of the most important issue for any human.it help us or our family to sustain life in our upsence.I have a insurance which help me tuff time in my life.
Business Car Fleet Insurance; 2/13/13, 1:41 AM
Unknown said...: When the health care coverage is provided by the employer, individuals have to spend less on premium payments for insurance.
inexpensive health insurance; 3/18/13, 1:50 AM
Unknown said...: Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a nice information.

regards
Work Comp Insurance Fort worth; 5/20/13, 2:14 AM