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Old 11-18-2012, 06:58 PM
 
1,459 posts, read 3,293,739 times
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I got a letter from Premera saying that my premiums are going up on average $50 per person a month. Deductibles are not going down, coverage is getty shoddier and now this. What happened to affordable????

I don't know about the rest of the country but it seems there is no option but to pay the increase costs of the 3 major WA insurance carriers.
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Old 11-18-2012, 08:11 PM
 
21,989 posts, read 15,668,264 times
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I don't believe it starts until January 2014 when the state health insurance exchanges begin although I think a few small things have started. Health insurance was already going up steadily every year for the past decade or more so an increase now is nothing new. I don't expect everything to be perfect from the start and I don't doubt the whole thing will evolve as issues come up. It's a matter of starting somewhere and adjusting things as we go rather than complaining for decades but doing nothing as it just gets worse.
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Old 11-18-2012, 08:19 PM
 
Location: US Empire, Pac NW
5,003 posts, read 12,337,043 times
Reputation: 4125
Obamacare hasn't gone into effect yet for the majority of Americans, but they're feeling the effects of it because this is the last year that insurance premiums can be increased for a profit for no reason. After this year, they have to justify their rate increases to the state and post the rationale on their websites, which effectively means it is legally binding.

Also, remember that as of now, 3 million young folks who can't find a job because this is the worst economy in 80 years, very sick and injured, and other folks who really need the insurance who otherwise would be dropped by their insurance are now able to be on it and the insurance companies cannot legally drop them without proof of fraud or similar legal issues.

So ... if folks' insurance rates are going up, it's because the insurance companies are both increasing costs to cover their costs and to also boost their profits likely for the last time for quite a long time. Remember in 2014 the national healthcare insurance options will be active and after that insurance companies will likely have a much harder time competing, thus the "grab the money and run" mentality.

Also, many on the boards of those companies make more than $250k a year, which means they will be subject to an additional 1% tax on their income to cover this. So of course, what do they do? Raise your rates to line their pockets partly.

Makes me sick really, and justifies in my mind what those greedy pigs on the boards of the insurance companies deserve; a taste of their own medicine, pun intended.
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Old 11-18-2012, 09:20 PM
 
Location: in my mind
5,328 posts, read 8,516,427 times
Reputation: 11112
here is a timeline of all the components of the Affordable Care Act. You can click on any given month since it first started (March 2010) and see the changes that were supposed to go in effect at that time, as well as future planned changes

Timeline of the Affordable Care Act | HealthCare.gov
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Old 11-18-2012, 11:40 PM
 
4,794 posts, read 12,348,865 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebird2007 View Post
I got a letter from Premera saying that my premiums are going up on average $50 per person a month. Deductibles are not going down, coverage is getty shoddier and now this. What happened to affordable????

I don't know about the rest of the country but it seems there is no option but to pay the increase costs of the 3 major WA insurance carriers.
You can't expect insurance companies to be required to cover more things and more costly participants , then not expect you will have to pay more in premiums to cover those costs. The affordable part is for those weren't covered and now are. You didn't actually believe the affordable care act meant more affordable for everyone did you?

We also pay the highest rates in the country for dental insurance. Our worthless insurance commissioner seems to care little about doing anything about that.
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Old 11-18-2012, 11:59 PM
 
Location: Seattle area
9,182 posts, read 12,092,197 times
Reputation: 6400
Health care in the US is a complete disaster. People have to go bankrupt to be able to afford health services, so they don't die.
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Old 11-19-2012, 12:42 PM
 
195 posts, read 377,151 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebird2007 View Post
Deductibles are not going down, coverage is getty shoddier and now this. What happened to affordable????
The main cost saving part of the bill, the "Public" option was essentially DOA and removed from the bill I think before even getting a vote/hearing.

So now the "Affordable" part is gone, at least for those of us who don't have an effective "group" to join and are forced into the "individual" market.

I had thought that the State-run insurance exchanges were supposed to let individuals pool risk and get something closer to the group rate that corporations get but I dont know if that is actually the case.

So now we are back to "business as usual + worse" because now insurance companies are "justifying" their rate increases by pointing to the Affordable Care act, but in reality, rates for all policies seem to have been on the same path upwards for 15 or so years now ....
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Old 11-19-2012, 12:53 PM
 
21,989 posts, read 15,668,264 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by limeyx View Post
I had thought that the State-run insurance exchanges were supposed to let individuals pool risk and get something closer to the group rate that corporations get but I dont know if that is actually the case.
I believe that is still to be the case but the health insurance exchange doesn't start until January 2014. I think a Public Option would have been great, and you never know in time, but a lot of special interests became involved as you saw and the Public Option became a non-starter. We'll have to see how this works.
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Old 11-22-2012, 11:52 PM
 
346 posts, read 966,176 times
Reputation: 186
You've been bamboozled! "Obamacare" (the affordable healthcare act) doesn't really do anything to solve the problem of high insurance costs. It shifts some of the burden around (basically subsidizing some premiums for low income folks by taxing medical devices and "Cadillac" healthcare plans), but for the most part does nothing to fix the systemic problems in the American healthcare delivery system.

And no. I didn't forget about the cuts to medicare (which is the supposed way of paying for the other half of the costs of "Obamacare"). That's like a wife having her husband pay for her shoes from their joint bank account so that she can say that she spent less money on shoes this month.
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Old 11-23-2012, 12:12 AM
 
21,989 posts, read 15,668,264 times
Reputation: 12943
Fact Check: Obamacare's Medicare Cuts

Fact Check: Obamacare

The idea, however, that the Affordable Care Act struck a dangerous blow to Medicare that will change the program in fundamental ways is untrue. Under the new law, Medicare will remain a wildly popular, public single-payer health insurance system that provides comprehensive coverage to millions of Americans.
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