Rates Too High? Not Allowed on Exchange

[Winter_123]

And of course as we are seeing in the states and nationally, "too high" is based on how the regulators "feel." without regard to claims loss etc.

And, as we know, "not on the exchange" is a euphemism for not eligible for subsidy or tax credit and a whole bunch of other punitive measures.

Will the Health Care Legislation Prevent Rate Hikes? - Prescriptions Blog - NYTimes.com

 

[TXINSURANCE]

The biggest issue post 2014 is there essentially is no working mandate.

You have a more intense form of GI than even ME or NY has now. The new GI has NO pre ex waiting periods.

Feel sick? Buy a policy!

Need surgery? Buy a policy!

This is all supposed to be offset by a $95 fine that escalates to $695 many years later.

This would be funny if it was not law.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

It's playing out in front of us right now in MA. Rate increases? Denied. 3 out of 4 non-profit carriers posted a loss last year.

Harvard Pilgrim CEO states that 40% of enrollees kept the plan for 5 months or less accounting for 600% more in claims. And before we vilify those people, remember that if you're earning 60K and in your 40's, 25% of your take home pay goes to pay for health insurance premiums. In another 5 years it will be 40% of their take home pay.

And where's it all right now? On a judges desk. Take this situation and multiply it times the other 55 states.

 

[Winter_123]

The biggest issue post 2014 is there essentially is no working mandate.

You have a more intense form of GI than even ME or NY has now. The new GI has NO pre ex waiting periods.

Feel sick? Buy a policy!

Need surgery? Buy a policy!

This is all supposed to be offset by a $95 fine that escalates to $695 many years later.

This would be funny if it was not law.

Yep. Nothing fits together. It is just a bunch of reforms put in a shake and bake bag to increase coverage but does nothing about cost control. Everything from here on out will be driven by the crisis of the month. This month it is Massachusetts and the fallout from that and what it means, duh?

Many people have developed a two-tiered approach to this. First tier is between now and 2014, and the second is what life will be like after 2014. That is all a crock. We are in a free fall where costs or artificially set premiums are going to blow up right off. Maine coming right up. Mass this month. Maine in the courts now. Then what.

The other duh thing is that the feds and the states are lifting lifetime or annual caps with the assumption that that does not drive rate/cost increases. So the fed plan has a bunch of bondo and duct tape in place to hold things over to 2014 or whenever but that is an eternity based on what is brewing.

As we say in Maine, "you can't get theya from heya." Joe Sixpack is going to see his rates continue to skyrocket when he was led to believe that Obamacare had some kind of solution in place. Yeh, I know, he needed to follow it more closely. Helloooo.....the frigging thing dragged on for over a year and the people who voted on it dont even know what the hell they voted on even though they lived and breathed it for a year.

What a frigging mess. The notion that we are going to go up until 2014 without the feds using the crisis to implement emergency measures of some commie sort it absolutely absurd.


What a mess.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Can't wait for the MA. ruling tomorrow. It's an impossible decision. Either the carriers are denied the increases and forced to operate at a loss or the carriers get their increases and people get squeezed harder - more people forced to cancel coverage.

The whole thing almost makes me physically ill. Imagine someone with 4 DWI's earning $35,000 a year getting GI auto insurance for $60 a month while you, earning over 400% of FLP with not even a single ticket, pays $1,200. It's surreal.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

I have questioned why no one is campaigning for P&C reform. GI auto and home insurance. After the screwing people received here in gulf coast?

Auto insurance for me here in Texas is actually pretty affordable considering the amount of uninsured and illegals.

Can you imagine the rates for GI auto insurance? And John you forgot in your example - coverage for existing damage from previous accidents!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

How about planning an accident? No coverage on your car but man, you'd love a new paint job. So you drive your car against a cement wall then call up Progressive - into the shop it goes. Any difference there between being an obese smoker then saying "c**p, I need to see a doctor."

 

[Winter_123]

It's an impossible decision. .

No lie there white boy!

The other little but explosive thing going on is that states like Maine are relying upon other states to subsidize us. The state would deny it but think it through. Even though Anthem vastly exceeded the statutory requirement for claims payout, the state denied the rate increase because Anthem/Wellpoint "made enough" money elsewhere/nationally. How the hell can the rest of the country be subsidizing us if states individually start denying premium increases. If California does not get those increases how can Anthem subsidize my state, or at least it does not help in the aggregate.

Of course the madness of it all is that Maine's rates are higher but the state wants other states to subsidize us. Just last week the state lifted annual and lifetime caps. That will help, or not.

What a mess.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

For tomorrow, I'm betting on the judge denying the rate increases and forcing the carriers to start accepting new business. Any takers?

 

[HealthGuy]

Does the gov't really care that they are crapping in their own underpants and this health plan smells to high heaven? Maybe they don't care - they know it will get us to either a revolt, ultimately single payer. Obama isn't that dumb.