Health Plan Cost for New Yorkers Set to Fall 50% or More

[mota bhai 2,675]

Individuals buying health insurance on their own will see their premiums tumble next year in New York State as changes under the federal health care law take effect, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Wednesday.

State insurance regulators say they have approved rates for 2014 that are at least 50 percent lower on average than those currently available in New York. Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower.

Supporters of the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, credited the drop in rates to the online purchasing exchanges the law created, which they say are spurring competition among insurers that are anticipating an influx of new customers. The law requires that an exchange be started in every state.

“Health insurance has suddenly become affordable in New York,” said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president for health initiatives with the Community Service Society of New York. “It’s not bargain-basement prices, but we’re going from Bergdorf’s to Filene’s here.”

“The extraordinary decline in New York’s insurance rates for individual consumers demonstrates the profound promise of the Affordable Care Act,” she added.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/health/health-plan-cost-for-new-yorkers-set-to-fall-50.html?_r=0

[Teddy B 17,252]

Individuals buying health insurance on their own will see their premiums tumble next year in New York State as changes under the federal health care law take effect, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Wednesday.

State insurance regulators say they have approved rates for 2014 that are at least 50 percent lower on average than those currently available in New York. Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower.

Don't know many folks that buy their own health insurance. The majority of people who get their healthcare through their employer are going to see a hike in their rates.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Don't know many folks that buy their own health insurance. The majority of people who get their healthcare through their employer are going to see a hike in their rates.

Don't now about you but I've seen hikes in my rates every year for well over a decade before Obamacare was ever even thought of. How is Obamacare all of a sudden responsible for these hikes? I'd understand that line of argument if rates started creeping up all of a sudden once Obamacare became law. But that is clearly not the case.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Don't now about you but I've seen hikes in my rates every year for well over a decade before Obamacare was ever even thought of. How is Obamacare all of a sudden responsible for these hikes? I'd understand that line of argument if rates started creeping up all of a sudden once Obamacare became law. But that is clearly not the case.

I get rate hikes in my health insurance coverage every year, auto and home insurance too. I certainly hope that Obamacare won't raise my rates anymore, but it seems highly unlikely seeing that most of the people who are now uninsured are that way because they cannot afford insurance and will qualify for gov't subsidies to conform with the new law. You and I will be paying for those subsidies, just how much, nobody knows yet.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I get rate hikes in my health insurance coverage every year, auto and home insurance too. I certainly hope that Obamacare won't raise my rates anymore, but it seems highly unlikely seeing that most of the people who are now uninsured are that way because they cannot afford insurance and will qualify for gov't subsidies to conform with the new law. You and I will be paying for those subsidies, just how much, nobody knows yet.

Subsidies are not funded via health insurance rates. Sure, we'll be paying for them. But thus far, we've been paying for uncompensated care provided to the uninsured. So, we're paying for it differently. In a way that enables people to see a doctor outside of the ER. That's where a large part of uninsured population ends up today. And you and I foot that bill. I'd rather help subsidize coverage and help them see the doctor than hold off and end up in the ER costing many times over what a timely visit to the doc would have cost.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Subsidies are not funded via health insurance rates. Sure, we'll be paying for them. But thus far, we've been paying for uncompensated care provided to the uninsured. So, we're paying for it differently. In a way that enables people to see a doctor outside of the ER. That's where a large part of uninsured population ends up today. And you and I foot that bill. I'd rather help subsidize coverage and help them see the doctor than hold off and end up in the ER costing many times over what a timely visit to the doc would have cost.

If the subsidies aren't paid for with higher rates, then it will be higher taxes, either way we pay more. I'm not complaining about healthcare for all, because I'm in favor of it. I'm just very skeptical of the overall costs of this plan.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

If the subsidies aren't paid for with higher rates, then it will be higher taxes, either way we pay more. I'm not complaining about healthcare for all, because I'm in favor of it. I'm just very skeptical of the overall costs of this plan.

Or any plan other than a single payer type plan. Health care costs and thus premiums have risen at ridiculous rates for far too long pushing ever more people out of the market. Those ever more people put ever more pressure on hospitals by clogging the ERs and not paying up - not because they don't want to but because they can't. Hospitals factor this uncompensated care partially into their rates - and you and I pay more for our coverage to help pay for all that. The hidden surcharge for that currently is roughly $1,000.00 a year on a family plan. That ought to come down. Uncompensated care is also paid to hospitals via higher reimbursement rates from Medicare for services. This is one of the reasons why hospitals are busy buying up physician practices - they get to charge more for the same service rendered by the same people in the same locations simply because now the practices are part of the hospital and thus fall into different fee schedules with Medicare.

There is so much wrong with the health care system in this country that any legislation that tries to fix it is destined to have undesirable side-effects. There's no way around that, really. You'd have to go all out and change the way we deliver, compensate and cover for health care. And that just isn't happening because there is almost 3 trillion dollars worth an economic interest not to change it.

[Darnell 8,479]

it's all maths.

there was the old math, and now there's the new math...

Math Rocks ! Get Some, Today !

[Pooky 3,849]

Don't know many folks that buy their own health insurance. The majority of people who get their healthcare through their employer are going to see a hike in their rates.

Per ThinkProgress, only 17,000 New Yorkers currently buy their own healthcare insurance. . Mainly because the current rates are somewhere between insane and #######?