Significant premium hikes expected under Obama health law
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Insurers are expected to seek significant premium increases under President Barack Obama’s health care law.
WASHINGTON >> Expect insurers to seek significant premium increases under President Barack Obama’s health care law, in a wave of state-level requests rippling across the country ahead of the political conventions this summer.
Insurers say the law’s coverage has been a financial drain for many of them, and they’re setting the stage for 2017 hikes that in some cases could reach well into the double digits.
For example in Virginia, a state that reports early, nine insurers returning to the HealthCare.gov marketplace are seeking average premium increases that range from 9.4 percent to 37.1 percent. Those initial estimates filed with the state may change.
The health law’s insurance markets offer subsidized private plans, with more than 12 million customers enrolled nationwide. Going into their fourth year, they don’t yet seem to have achieved stability. That’s a contrast with more-established government programs like Medicaid and Medicare Advantage, in which private insurers profitably cover tens of millions of people.
The health law’s nagging problems seem to center on lower-than-hoped-for enrollment, sicker-than-expected customers, and a balky internal stabilization system that didn’t deliver as advertised and was already scheduled to be pared back next year.
This year, premiums for a benchmark silver plan rose by a little more than 7 percent on average, according to administration figures. Sharp increases for 2017 would fire up the long-running political debate over the divisive law, which persists despite two Supreme Court decisions upholding Obama’s signature program, and the president’s veto of a Republican repeal bill.
Of the presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton is the only one promising to build on the Affordable Care Act. She’s proposed an aggressive effort to increase enrollment along with measures to reduce consumer costs. The Republican candidates all want to repeal “Obamacare.” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would incorporate it into a bigger government-run system covering everyone.
The health law is “likely in for a significant market correction over the next year or two,” said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “There have been a lot of signals from insurers that premiums are headed up.”
Standard & Poor’s health insurance analyst Deep Banerjee said he expects premium hikes to be higher for 2017 than in the more stable market for employer coverage. Insurers are facing higher medical costs from health law customers, and companies priced their initial coverage too low in an attempt to grab new business.
“What they are doing now is trying to catch up,” said Banerjee.
The head of the health insurance industry’s main trade group predicts sharper increases.
“It is a sustainable market for the long term, but right now it is not stable,” said Marilyn Tavenner of America’s Health Insurance Plans. “Folks will try to price this year to get to stability.”
Tavenner came to the industry from the Obama administration, where she oversaw the troubled launch of the insurance markets.
The administration says talk of premium increases is premature and overblown. Initial requests from insurers will get knocked back in some states, officials say, aided by a rate-review process strengthened under the health law.
Most significantly, the law’s subsidies are designed to shield consumers from rising costs. More than 8 out of 10 customers receive tax credits to help pay their premiums, and that assistance will increase as premiums rise. Many consumers have also shown they’re willing to shop around for lower-priced coverage. Taken together, officials say that means increases that consumers face would be much lower than what insurers request.
“Marketplace consumers would do well to put little stock in initial rate filings,” spokesman Ben Wakana said in a statement. “Averages based on proposed premium changes are not a reliable indicator of what typical consumers will actually pay.”
Also mitigating the pressure for higher premiums is a one-year moratorium — for 2017 — on a health law tax on insurers, part of last year’s federal budget deal.
Still, it’s hard to ignore the litany of insurance industry complaints.
Last month, an analysis of medical claims from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association concluded that insurers gained a sicker, more expensive patient population as a result of the law. The “Blues” represent the most common brand of insurance.
Recently UnitedHealth, the nation’s biggest insurer, said it will radically pull back from the health law’s markets, citing estimated losses of $650 million this year, on top of $475 million it lost last year.
Many insurers struggled because they didn’t know how much health care their new customers would use. Some patients had been out of the health care system for years and had been holding off getting needed care. Insurers also say they’ve been hurt by customers who signed up outside the regular enrollment period and then used a lot of health care.
Insurers who are more bullish on the program tend to be ones that expanded slowly into the markets and have a lot of experience working with low-income Medicaid recipients.
62 responses to “Significant premium hikes expected under Obama health law”
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This can’t be true. Barry promised us our premiums would go down. Someone didn’t get the memo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66bgpRRSDD4
And Da Rail costs are also expected to rise significantly. It’s the gruberization of politics, say anything to get what you want. The ends justify the means for these ideologues.
Oblundecare and the rail are two huge government boondoggles.
The Muslim community organizer from Kenya is a failure and a lair.
Liberal Dems didn’t get the memo and was told to vote FOR it…or else. ALL Dems followed the command and voted for IT..GOP voted NO. The rest is history.
btw..anyone see klastri..he said OBLUNDERCARE IS O’s BEST SIGNATURE legacy….WOW!
Maybe you didn’t get the memo, like the rest of these mor0ns, that insurance premiums have been rising well before the ACA. How short the memory of the small-brained:
Posted on: Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Employers brace for insurance-rate increases
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Arnold Hirotsu has been getting a lot more attention from small- and medium-sized business owners since Kaiser Permanente Hawaii last week said it wants to raise rates an average of 14.5 percent starting in January….
You didn’t get the drift…I was playing along with Tita Girl’s comment.
If I,m not mistaken Kaiser as well as HMSA raised their premiums before 2003.The point your,e missing Dan, is that the Obamacare promises??? Were not ….as promised! It was supposed to be good thing! And BTW,no need to be calling everyone you disagree with,a ” mor0n”….Not Cool bro! especially from a SA staff writer.
Statement meant was meant for HIE..not Dan Nakaso.SA Writer!sorry bout that Dan!
This has to be Obama’s fault. My insurance rates never, ever went up before Obamacare. I can’t believe insurance companies would do this to us. I thought insurance companies were on our side?
Does anybody know where my doctor went?
Bernie’s plan of “Medicare for all” is the only method that will provide health care to everyone at a reasonable cost. Obamacare is a bureaucratic nightmare for patients, doctors, and insurance companies that wastes billions of dollars on needless paperwork. Medicare for all is the most cost effective and efficient method of providing health care to everyone.
If you think it is difficult to find a doctor now, wait until they are forced to work for government determined rates. NO ONE will become a doctor and we will all hurt. Physicians work hard and train for years and well deserve what they earn. If it were so easy why doesn’t everyone become a doctor and earn what some people believe is not what they deserve. I know someone who, after 4 years of med school (and indebtedness for student loans), 5 years of residency, and two more years of fellowship, will have been in training for 11 years. Government intervention dictating who they must see and how much they can earn will only discourage more from this noble profession. Sensible government intervention would be tort reform, but that could never happen in a state dominated by democrats.
Your naivete regarding “national health care for all” is remarkable.
Obama and the corrupt Democrat Party are in an altered reality, they believe that because they can Gruber Americans, they will win elections with free stuff. But Obama and the corrupt Democrats really stepped on it with Obamadon’tcare, by not reading the bill, and trusting their advisors, they passed a deeply flawed bill, now, hopefully voters will remember and vote them out.
Just another reason to vote for Mr Trump. Trump 2016
sarge22, I just heard that John Boehner likes Trump and is a personal friend of his. In fact, he’s telling his friends to vote for him. Cruz is the only true anti-establishment candidate.
Ted does not qualify to be president. A cuban anchor baby? You got to be kidding.
Boots, you don’t have a racist or xenophobic bone in your body right?
@ Maipono
Klastri & Boots are a pair who has no racist bones in their being..(gag).
Cruz wasn’t born in America. Therefore, he cannot be president. he was born in hell
Thanks dems.
How can this be….if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor
Never believe a snake oil salesman.
OneBigAssMistakeAmerica
thanks Obummer…socking it to the working class again…..and your welcome for your trip to the 808…
Insurers are passing along costs so that they can maintain their obscene profit margins. The next step should be making health insurance a non-profit industry.
From what I read, they are actually losing money.
But I get your point.
The current system is a mess. Medical staff spend hours trying to find out which insurance company covers which treatment.
When you combine this with Obama Care, which seems to have added complication rather than reduced it, it is a nightmare that is destroying personal health care.
At what point does a profit margin become obscene?
I know that SA is just a small microcosm of Hawaii but darn… it always befuddle me on how so many Democrats are voted into political offices. We either have a lot of gullible voters or just plan as stupid.
No- just not inclined to vote for the alternative- a party of bigots and welfare for the rich.
The so called bigots and welfare for the rich are winning and the name callers are losing. TRUMP 2016
Fearless Leader strikes again. He said he wanted to change the country, he just didn’t say for the better.
Premium increase for wife and self went up by 56%. After researching why the significant increase the premium increase may be attributed to my company’s “reclassification” of premium this is why it could pass thru the State Insurance Commission. If we had been simply assessed the same prior premium classification it would have been 6.7%. Again, I believe this was done by my company selecting another premium on the providers schedule and notifying the administrator to apply the “reclassified” rates. I have reached out to our Congressional representatives and will proceed with complaint. I would suggest that if you receive and increase you investigate why. Note: According to Kevin Counihan, CEO, Healtcare.Gov the anticipated rates should have been in line with the 2000 – 2010 and 2010 – 2015 time frame around 7%. When asked about 2017 he indicated that during April / May 2016 we will see the increases (by State) for 2017. Hence, do your research and complain to your company, provider, Congressional team, even Mr. Counihan. Good Luck to all.
my premiums dropped 3% last year. i now have zero copay on meds. something must be wrong.
Since “wn” is paying for your coverage perhaps some gratitude might be in order?
Don’t act so surprised people you all new it was the old bait and switch. Just like his whole presidency.
Let’s be clear…when you say “people” you mean DEMS.
Well Congress start the ball rolling and repeal Obama Care. Don’t talk do something!!!
Here’s one reason premiums are going sky-high. A 60 year old man is required by law to cover himself for his annual pap smear, and ultrasounds for when he becomes pregnant. And also pay premium to cover his psychiatric care for when he goes cR^zEe
you mean woman
No, and that is his point. EVERYone’s policy (male/female) has coverage for the things he mentioned. People are having to pay for things, in their premiums, that they will never use but MUST be covered for. With that in mind, our local people will be wondering where their annual raises went. With employer mandated coverage, your raise money will be re-allocated by your employers to pay for the higher premiums instead of your pockets. So, all you guys out there – make use of your pap smear benefits. You’re paying for them through your forfeited raises.
Exactly, because under OsamaBinLadin Care everyone is classified as UNISEX and has to pay for pap smears and pregnancy coverage even if born as a male. They do this in the event the male one day decides to become a female and decides to get fertility treatments to try to conceive a child even though it’s not medically possible.
Thanks a lot Obama, you’re the SHIZNIT when it comes to milking the middle class out of everything they got to support a massive population of 20+ million illegals and we’re subsidizing for all of their medical expenses!
Yes, and women have to pay for prostate exams.
time to approve the cures or find it on your own because they exist. There is a US patent for Heart Disease natural cure.
Hey, look! The only U.S. president in history who did not deliver a single year of 3.0%+ economic growth.
Nor ANYTHING POSITIVE in domestic or Foreign policies…PERIOD! To put it nicely and using a lot of PC O is a BUMMER!
Obama Care was supposed to be his crowning domestic achievement.
Klastri said that…where is he/she?
correction..klastri said OBLUNDERCARE “IS” O’s crowning domestic achievement.
With the abysmal opposition being offered by the republican party, history may very well record his “achievement” as pivotal in the remaking of America into simply another European clone.
For those that are truly broke or soon will be due to OsamaBinLadin Care, just start doing what all the illegal Mexicans do already. DON’T pay a dime for any healthcare and when the need for medical care arises just walk into an ER and claim you don’t have a SSN and mention your name is Jesus Jose Pablito Rodriguez the III and write the mayors office address as your address of residence and walk out without paying a dime after you’re treated. Thanks a lot Obama, you’re the SHIZNIT when it comes to milking the middle class out of everything they got to support a massive 20+ million population of illegals and we’re subsidizing for all of their medical expenses!
…and what was I saying about this the other day?
Obama is Hawaii’s gift that keeps on giving.
We need national health care; at least as an option.
So liberals? You like your Obama Rip off Care now?
In all fairness, the Republican congress has done nothing either. I thought there would be a glimmer of hope over the last four years but
nothing meaningful has come out of Washington.
It is time to vote the Dems. out of office. Ever since Oblundercare came on line my premiums have gone up and my medical care has decreased never has this happened to me in the past. Thanks Oblunder I will be lucky to see retirement. This is only one reason to VOTE TRUMP.
Obama smiling, saying to himself “Suckers, I got rich off of you all.”
This coupled with yesterday’s story about much needed patient tests being denied or stifling under a ton of paperwork required by insurance companies only spells future disaster for everyone.
this is the fault of foolish liberals voting for demorats
egyptian democrats drowning in denial needed to see what was in the bill by passing it before reading it.
the same democrats closed government down to implement an inept corrupt rollout of obamadontcare. they closed the government down knowing that the obamascan was not ready and that would steadily increase health insurance payments over the years.
these same democrats laughed and celebrated as they described their own party members as stupid, too stupid to know the obamascam was a pyramid scheme.
and now, these same democrats are foisting upon american voters a congenital liar obsessed with becoming the first female felon nominated president.
how stupid do they think democrat voters are? oh, right, they elected obama to the presidency. twice. that’s how stupid they know democrat voters are.