Read the following from HHS.gov Good news, right? The ACA is working according to government reports. Well, not exactly.
Since the main components of the law went into effect, we’ve reduced the number of uninsured by 16.4 million, the largest increase in the insured in decades. Before the ACA, the U.S. economy faced rapidly growing health costs that put enormous pressure on businesses and consumers. We paid more than any country without better health results, and millions of Americans were one illness away from bankruptcy. Today, we’ve seen the slowest growth in health costs in half a century, improved patient safety has saved an estimated 50,000 lives and $12 billion, and employer premiums for family coverage grew just 3 percent in 2014, tied with 2010 for the lowest on record back to 1999.
Then read this more realistic state of things.
First, the Affordable Care Act has added to the cost of health plans, not lowered health care costs. Think about it, mandated additional benefits, mandated coverage for adult children, added “free” benefits, new fees and taxes on employers and insurers plus billions more in administrative expenses.
Second, to the extent health care inflation has slowed, it is mostly a reflection of overall lower inflation.
Third and most significant is the fact that employers have been reducing benefits, increasing out-of-pocket costs for workers and raising premium cost sharing.
Funny, you don’t hear any of this from the government agencies. To say Obamacare has controlled health care costs is ludicrous. There is nothing applicable to the non-Medicare population in Obamacare that does anything but increase costs; both health care and administration. Federal officials may seek to roll back premium increase requests, but they cannot stop the use of health care that is causing higher premiums.
Or perhaps you should read the New York Times July 3, 2015
WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected. Federal officials say they are determined to see that the requests are scaled back.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans — market leaders in many states — are seeking rate increases that average 23 percent in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36 percent in Tennessee and 54 percent in Minnesota, according to documents posted online by the federal government and state insurance commissioners and interviews with insurance executives.
The Oregon insurance commissioner, Laura N. Cali, has just approved 2016 rate increases for companies that cover more than 220,000 people. Moda Health Plan, which has the largest enrollment in the state, received a 25 percent increase, and the second-largest plan, LifeWise, received a 33 percent increase.
Jesse Ellis O’Brien, a health advocate at the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, said: “Rate increases will be bigger in 2016 than they have been for years and years and will have a profound effect on consumers here. Some may start wondering if insurance is affordable or if it’s worth the money.”
From http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2014/11/13/346957.htm
Read below and understand how employer costs have been limited. Note the words “plan design changes and vendor negotiations.”
November 13, 2014
In 2014, U.S. companies and their employees saw a slight uptick in the rate of U.S. health care cost increases, according to an analysis by corporate health and benefits consultant Aon Hewitt.
After plan design changes and vendor negotiations, the average health care premium rate increase for mid-size and large companies in 2014 was 4.4 percent, up from 3.3 percent in 2013.
In 2015, Aon Hewitt projects average health care premium increases will be 5.5 percent after plan design changes and vendor negotiations.
According to Aon Hewitt, companies are implementing high deductibles, requiring health screenings for richer plans, reducing subsidies for dependents, and exploring private health exchanges and other approaches to try to stay ahead of increases in health costs.
Aon Hewitt’s analysis showed the average health care cost per employee in 2014 was $10,717, up from $10,266 in 2013. The portion of the total health care premium that employees were asked to contribute toward this premium cost was $2,487 in 2014, compared to $2,355 in 2013. Meanwhile, average employee out-of-pocket costs, such as copayments, coinsurance and deductibles, increased from $2,005 in 2013 to $2,295 in 2014.
For 2015, average health care costs are projected to increase to $11,304 per employee. Employees will be asked to contribute 23.6 percent of the total health care premium, which equates to $2,664 for 2015. Average employee out-of-pocket costs are expected to be $2,487.
These projections mean that over the last five years, employees’ share of health care costs—including employee contributions and out-of-pocket costs—will have increased more than 52 percent, from $3,389 in 2010 to $5,151 in 2015.
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