In other Obamacare news, now that the initial bids have been reviewed and knocked down, the average premium increase for 2016 is looking less like 20% and more like 3%. Again.
Fascinating how the same process happens, every year. Furious headlines, later reductions, radio silence, next year's scare headlines.
"...now that the initial bids have been reviewed and knocked down... average premium increase is...3%"
Wow, insurance rates for 12 whole cities went into this piece of irrelevant trivia. And it sure made me forget all about Obamacare incompetence and waste!
I would hope you would check the methodology used to determine these rates. I thought the Seattle decrease of 10% was suspicious and the Kaiser report explains:
"This underscores the importance of enrollees actively shopping each open enrollment period. For example, in Seattle, Washington, Bridgespan offered the second-lowest-cost silver plan in 2015 at a premium of $254 per month for a single 40 year-old before taking a tax credit into account. Bridgespan is increasing this plan’s rate to $286 per month for 2016, but another insurer (Ambetter) is undercutting it and offering two lower-cost silver options for $225 and $228 per month. An unsubsidized person enrolled in the 2015 second-lowest silver plan offered by Bridgespan would see a 12.6% increase if she stayed in the same plan. Conversely, if she switched to the new second-lowest silver plan offered by Ambetter, her premium would drop -10.1% (before accounting for the relatively small effect aging up a year would have on her premiums)."
In other words, the decrease depends on the insuree CHANGING coverage. You might be shocked to learn that the Ambetter plan has a narrower network with a higher deductible. In other words, you can't keep your plan and you can't keep your doctor. And you're going to pay a lot to even get through the door.
Go to the Healthcare.gov web site and the "Rate Review" section that lists all the providers and what they're requesting for rate increases and what they're getting. News flash: I checked about five states and they're ALL showing double-digit rate increases granted.
From before the beginning of Obamacare, rate increases (or decreases) for health insurance have been calculated using the available mid-tier plan with the lowest cost. That's the statistical baseline. Obviously one can find cheaper and more expensive coverage, in any market, within a particular option or when choosing another.
The majority of all plans at all levels have requested single-digit rate increases for '16. Many more than half of all Healthcare.gov enrollees already shopped and switched their plans in 2014 for 2015. The free market, what a concept.
2015: Life Insurance premium for $1 million in coverage: $1000 2016: Life Insurance premium for $1 million in coverage: $2000 Life Insurance premium for $500,000 in coverage: $1050
Insurance premiums increased by only 5% from 2015 to 2016!
That's from the same playbook where the Democrats offer a 5% cost of living adjustment, and Republicans offer a 3% COLA, and the Democrats then run TV ads to scare people by saying that the Republican's want to cut your benefits by 2%.
The https://ratereview.healthcare.gov search function for ACA-Compliant Products only lists requests that are in the double digits. As the site says in the first paragraph of the introduction, “The threshold for this requirement is 10%.” Smaller rate hikes and price reductions do not appear.
For example, Kaiser now projects that the average mid-tier silver plan in Los Angeles will go down -5% in cost from 2015 to 2016 -- yet every single California plan on ratereview.healthcare.gov is listed at +10% or higher.
For another example, the state of Maine has three Obamacare carriers in its exchange, only one of whom has requested an average hike of more than 0.5% for 2016 (Anthem, +5.7%). Just one particular Maine plan is displayed on the healthcare.gov site, because it is the only option by any insurer in any tier to top the 10% threshold (which may or may not be granted).
This is the case nationwide. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has determined that "insurance companies project that most people will be enrolled with proposed rate increases of less than 10 percent."
I mentioned California, too. Coast to coast, baby. May we assume that you have some ulterior motive when you emphasize Tennessee rather than the 46 or 47 states where premium hikes will be normal, or in a few cases, nonexistent?
Your RateReview oversight was an easy mistake to make. Less simple would be continuing to add to the annual outcry of “See, just like we told you, look at these catastrophic premium increases,” in the wake of another year where the same prediction of doom will have fallen on its face. Does Obamacare cover chill pills?
If you check the article I linked, Tennessee was at the top of the list. Maine was at the bottom. May we assume that you have some ulterior motive when you emphasize Maine blah blah blah?
Alos: when can we expect that $2500 in savings Obama promised?
Right after Obamacare starts killing those jobs, increases the uninsured rate, installs the death panels, forces businesses to stop offering coverage, fails to meet its enrollment goals, drives costs sky high, repels millennials (burn your Obamacare cards!), cuts everybody's work schedule to 29 hours, and drives away the private insurance industry.
It's amazing that Obamacare's hung on as long as it has, because the website doesn't work and no one has paid their premiums.
In other Obamacare news, now that the initial bids have been reviewed and knocked down, the average premium increase for 2016 is looking less like 20% and more like 3%. Again.
ReplyDeleteFascinating how the same process happens, every year. Furious headlines, later reductions, radio silence, next year's scare headlines.
http://kff.org/health-reform/fact-sheet/analysis-of-2016-premium-changes-in-the-affordable-care-acts-health-insurance-marketplaces/
http://vikingpundit.blogspot.com/2015/08/here-come-obamacare-rate-hikes.html
http://vikingpundit.blogspot.com/2015/06/forget-it-jake-its-portlandia.html
"...now that the initial bids have been reviewed and knocked down... average premium increase is...3%"
ReplyDeleteWow, insurance rates for 12 whole cities went into this piece of irrelevant trivia. And it sure made me forget all about Obamacare incompetence and waste!
I would hope you would check the methodology used to determine these rates. I thought the Seattle decrease of 10% was suspicious and the Kaiser report explains:
ReplyDelete"This underscores the importance of enrollees actively shopping each open enrollment period. For example, in Seattle, Washington, Bridgespan offered the second-lowest-cost silver plan in 2015 at a premium of $254 per month for a single 40 year-old before taking a tax credit into account. Bridgespan is increasing this plan’s rate to $286 per month for 2016, but another insurer (Ambetter) is undercutting it and offering two lower-cost silver options for $225 and $228 per month. An unsubsidized person enrolled in the 2015 second-lowest silver plan offered by Bridgespan would see a 12.6% increase if she stayed in the same plan. Conversely, if she switched to the new second-lowest silver plan offered by Ambetter, her premium would drop -10.1% (before accounting for the relatively small effect aging up a year would have on her premiums)."
In other words, the decrease depends on the insuree CHANGING coverage. You might be shocked to learn that the Ambetter plan has a narrower network with a higher deductible. In other words, you can't keep your plan and you can't keep your doctor. And you're going to pay a lot to even get through the door.
Go to the Healthcare.gov web site and the "Rate Review" section that lists all the providers and what they're requesting for rate increases and what they're getting. News flash: I checked about five states and they're ALL showing double-digit rate increases granted.
the methodology used to determine these rates
ReplyDeleteFrom before the beginning of Obamacare, rate increases (or decreases) for health insurance have been calculated using the available mid-tier plan with the lowest cost. That's the statistical baseline. Obviously one can find cheaper and more expensive coverage, in any market, within a particular option or when choosing another.
The majority of all plans at all levels have requested single-digit rate increases for '16. Many more than half of all Healthcare.gov enrollees already shopped and switched their plans in 2014 for 2015. The free market, what a concept.
Liberal math:
ReplyDelete2015: Life Insurance premium for $1 million in coverage: $1000
2016: Life Insurance premium for $1 million in coverage: $2000
Life Insurance premium for $500,000 in coverage: $1050
Insurance premiums increased by only 5% from 2015 to 2016!
That's from the same playbook where the Democrats offer a 5% cost of living adjustment, and Republicans offer a 3% COLA, and the Democrats then run TV ads to scare people by saying that the Republican's want to cut your benefits by 2%.
Go to Rate Review: https://ratereview.healthcare.gov/
ReplyDelete"The majority of all plans at all levels have requested single-digit rate increases for '16" is a complete falsehood.
The https://ratereview.healthcare.gov search function for ACA-Compliant Products only lists requests that are in the double digits. As the site says in the first paragraph of the introduction, “The threshold for this requirement is 10%.” Smaller rate hikes and price reductions do not appear.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Kaiser now projects that the average mid-tier silver plan in Los Angeles will go down -5% in cost from 2015 to 2016 -- yet every single California plan on ratereview.healthcare.gov is listed at +10% or higher.
For another example, the state of Maine has three Obamacare carriers in its exchange, only one of whom has requested an average hike of more than 0.5% for 2016 (Anthem, +5.7%). Just one particular Maine plan is displayed on the healthcare.gov site, because it is the only option by any insurer in any tier to top the 10% threshold (which may or may not be granted).
This is the case nationwide. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has determined that "insurance companies project that most people will be enrolled with proposed rate increases of less than 10 percent."
Oh I see why you chose to talk about Maine and not Tennessee:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wsj.com/articles/insurers-win-big-health-rate-increases-1440628848
But you're right about the 10% threshold on the Rate Review site.
I mentioned California, too. Coast to coast, baby. May we assume that you have some ulterior motive when you emphasize Tennessee rather than the 46 or 47 states where premium hikes will be normal, or in a few cases, nonexistent?
ReplyDeleteYour RateReview oversight was an easy mistake to make. Less simple would be continuing to add to the annual outcry of “See, just like we told you, look at these catastrophic premium increases,” in the wake of another year where the same prediction of doom will have fallen on its face. Does Obamacare cover chill pills?
If you check the article I linked, Tennessee was at the top of the list. Maine was at the bottom. May we assume that you have some ulterior motive when you emphasize Maine blah blah blah?
ReplyDeleteAlos: when can we expect that $2500 in savings Obama promised?
Right after Obamacare starts killing those jobs, increases the uninsured rate, installs the death panels, forces businesses to stop offering coverage, fails to meet its enrollment goals, drives costs sky high, repels millennials (burn your Obamacare cards!), cuts everybody's work schedule to 29 hours, and drives away the private insurance industry.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that Obamacare's hung on as long as it has, because the website doesn't work and no one has paid their premiums.