I like the article in the “New Republic,” from 8/4/2014 because it provides consumers with some tools they can use, (See, “How Much Is Obamacare Raising Your Insurance Rate? Depends on Which Stat You Live in,” by Jonathan Cohn, http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118966/obamacare-premiums-2015-no-rate-shock-just-modest-increases.
The article also mentions a Price Waterhouse Cooper article entitled, “A preliminary look at 2015 individual market rate filings,” http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/health-research-institute/aca-state-exchanges.jhtml. There’s a click-on-it map where you can determine average rate increases for your state if the information is available. The data is as of 8/1/2014.
The biggest rate increases reported so far are in Indiana (more than 15 percent), North Carolina, Virginia, Iowa, Tennessee, Arizona and Vermont (between 10.01 and 15 percent), http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/health-research-institute/aca-state-exchanges.jhtml.
The New Republic article states that coverage will get more expensive for the majority of consumers but “2015 premiums increases will not be significantly worse than they were in the past. They might even be a little better,” http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118966/obamacare-premiums-2015-no-rate-shock-just-modest-increases.
The article and others highlights one of the major flaws of Obamacare…Premium increases can be camouflaged for Obamacare participants because as rates go up so will subsidies, meaning that the sticker shock is borne by those outside the Obamabucks health exchange network.
This fact was addressed in the 7/2/2014 article be Anemona Hartocollis, “Insurers on New York State’s Health Exchange Seek Significant Rate Increases,” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/03/nyregion/health-plans-in-exchange-face-rises-in-2015-rates.html, where Matt Anderson, described as “a spokesman for the state financial services commissioner, Benjamin M. Lawsky,” stated, “The rates do not account for any government subsidies, which…would also go up for some customers who qualify for them.”
While insurance plans have limits to what they can charge to employees, (premiums not to exceed 9.5 percent of income), there are no limits on how much more individuals can be expected to pay in the form of out-of-pocket expenses of copayments, coinsurance and deductibles. Consumers can also expect new hurdles to obtaining coverage such as preauthorization requirements and new exclusions to coverage and should look for these changes when considering benefits options for 2015.
This is because Obamacare codifies incentives for insurers to cover less and charge more when it comes to actually needed medical services and care because of the mandate to cover the preventive stuff. I have not seen but will be interested to see the number of individuals who REACH their out of pocket maximums with the changes of Obamacare versus the number of people who reached their out-of-pocket maximums in prior times.
For consumers, increased costs of premiums, copayments and coinsurance and the typical partner of less coverage for the money is bad news when inevitably they actually become sick. This situation is worsened when the protections of the out of pocket maximum is weakened by increasing that amount.
This means that when you inevitably become ill and require medical care that in today's healthcare environment you will likely be worse off than in prior times before the hyperfocus on prevention and diminishing attention to coverage of necessary medical services and care for the sick (the REAL reason we require health insurance).
The IRS has RAISED out-of-pocket maximums for 2015 from $6,350 in 2014 to $6,600 in 2015 for self-only and from $12,700 in 2014 to $13,200 in 2015, an increase of about four percent for each. (Most insurance plans use out of pocket maximums related to the number established by the IRS for High Deductible Health Plans). So while less medical care and services are being covered and/or are being covered in lower percentages, premiums are going up and the amounts individuals are expected to pay are going up.
In short, Obamacare is proving itself to be a law that codified the worst in our healthcare system which was already described as inadequate as a system that worked best for the healthy or the wealthy.
