Shock! Obamacare rates are going up! Why are lawmakers AND Democrats so surprised, as opposed to everyone else? Really, if you had half a brain and at least understood some economics, you would get it.
The USA Today reports that Obamacare rate hikes are rattling consumers and could threaten enrollment this next year. Last year, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, and West Virginia saw hikes in rates.
2016 Rate Hikes
Oklahoma 41.8%
Tennessee 38.6%
Minnesota 25.8%
Colorado 24.8%
Arizona 24.4%
North Carolina 20.6%
West Virginia 20.5%
Just to name a few.
With dramatic drops in insurance company participation on the exchanges for some states, decreased competition and other factors are leading to often jarring rate hikes.
Well Duh?? Can you say Monopoly?
Many argue that premium costs — even when heavily subsidized by the government — are too high. The health law considers it affordable if insurance premiums cost 6% or less of income for those earning under 200% of the federal poverty limit, or about $40,000 for a family of three,
“That’s really, really asking a lot,” says John Holahan, a fellow at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center. “The way it was designed, it was almost destined to not work.“.
Designed to fail…. and go to a Federally Mandated Federally Managed “Single Payer” system. Yeah, that will work…
Oh and let the Government fix it too.
Insurers need enough healthy people in the “pool” of consumers enrolled in their plans to offset the financial risks in covering the sick ones who need costly care. A shortage of healthy consumers on the exchanges to date is often attributed to the high premiums and relatively low tax penalties so far for remaining uninsured.
Health and Human Service Department Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Thursday the insurance exchanges “can be made sustainable in the long term” though administrative actions by the agency, but legislative action could “speeds things up.”
Translation, we need more money! That will fix it.
Then there is this, user Gina Brodie of Tucson:
“It is quite infuriating to read about how all the insurance companies are losing money, when we rarely, if ever, have utilized our many insurance plans over the years,” says Brodie, who has a form of chronic arthritis that she would like treated. “Those insurance companies have made nearly 100% profit on us, while we got either zero benefits or zero access to the system.”
So, which is it? Are they going broke or making nearly 100% profit???
Are YOU PEOPLE that STUPID?