Next Year's Health Plan Rates: New York Times. Editorial

[Stuart G]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/opinion/health-plan-rates-under-obamacare-arent-so-bad.html?hp&_r=0

(they are not so bad] brackets are mine...
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Editorial

Republicans are doing their best to persuade Americans that the Affordable Care Act will drive health insurance premiums so high that consumers will experience “rate shock.” That fear-provoking tale seems much less credible now that the rates proposed by health insurers for individual coverage on the new health care exchanges have been made public in several states. For the most part, the premiums will increase only slightly or even decrease for individuals and family coverage on the exchanges, electronic marketplaces in which consumers choose among a variety of plans with differing benefits and costs.


The reported rates are in states that have elected to run their own exchanges, which are set to start enrolling people in October for coverage that begins in January 2014. Many states with Republican governors have refused to set up exchanges and have left that task to the Obama administration. In 19 states where the exchanges will be entirely run by the federal government, more health insurance companies are entering the markets and injecting competition that should help hold down costs, the administration said on Thursday.

In California, officials announced last week that 13 insurers were awarded contracts to sell policies on the state’s health care exchanges next year. The companies submitted bids, which came in much lower than virtually all experts and actuaries had forecast.

[raging_moderate]

1. It would go down even more if the insurance companies spent less on propaganda.

In our state BC/BS sent multiple letters to us warning us about how the new changes would raise premiums. They had town meetings for customers as well as medical providers advertised. Every month Jan thru May our bill would change, jumping around because they hadn't "agreed" on 2013 prices (usually it's settled be December the year prior). The end result? As of today our official 2013 premium is DOWN 10% form 2012. Tell me again how this country can't afford a medical care system that costs less? If we actually had universal coverage (even if run thru well regulated private insurance companies) in would drop another 40% or so instantly.