Double Digit Premium Increases For Individual Insured Expected Due to Obamacare

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pct

WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts has estimated.

That's likely to increase premiums for at least some Americans buying individual plans.

The report by the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act.

While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report concluded the overwhelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance markets, where people purchase coverage directly from insurers.

The disparities are striking. By 2017, the estimated increase would be 62 percent for California, about 80 percent for Ohio, more than 20 percent for Florida and 67 percent for Maryland. Much of the reason for the higher claims costs is that sicker people are expected to join the pool, the report said.

The report did not make similar estimates for employer plans, the mainstay for workers and their families. That's because the primary impact of Obama's law is on people who don't have coverage through their jobs.

A prominent national expert, recently retired Medicare chief actuary Rick Foster, said the report does "a credible job" of estimating potential enrollment and costs under the law, "without trying to tilt the answers in any particular direction."

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20130326/US--Health.Overhaul.Costs/

[Pooky 3,807]

PPACA, now it's time to pay the ferryman.

[james&olya 1,121]

And who, exactly, do they blame for all their previous premium increases?

We need single payer (Medicare for all) health insurance with strong incentives to stop the absurd over utilization of health care services. The best health care, as measured in outcomes data, is delivered in the states of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and their costs per capita (age adjusted) are a fraction of costs in other areas such as Miami that have worse outcomes! Sarah Palin whined incessantly about the death panels in Obamacare (which never existed) but some sort of reasonable restrictions on the prescribing of useless tests, surgeries, and other treatments is necessary if we are to avoid bankrupting us all over health care costs!