The Eye Popping 2016 Obamacare Rate Increases Are Out

[yorkriver1]

My middle class clients are having Sophie's choice situations where they may have to drain savings for care, since they aren't eligible for subsidies, or only partial help. Particularly hard where one spouse is on Medicare, the other is in those final years past 60, where the premiums are really high.

The high deductible/out of pocket situations are pretty painful for them.

 

[tonyisme]

Change we have stepped in...no place else to step as its another larger pile ;o

 

[RWKAgency]

I have been in this "reform market" since 1993 when NJ's PL 92-162 came into being. It was the first time in our nation's history we saw guaranteed issue, with state mandated plans (Plans A-E), State mandated coverages (the most recent being Viagara being mandated) and State Approval on both new and renewal rate structures.
We NJ brokers told all of you 5 years ago what was going to happen and no one wanted to listen.
There is no way guaranteed issue with mandated everything is going to be affordable. The poster who said only 2 people will be able to afford this, the rich and the subsidized has it right for the most part.
There were other options on the table that got passed over because it doesn't help meet the goal of Single Payer Universal Healthcare For All. Make no mistake, that's the goal.
The middle class lost any hope of affordable care when the ACA changed the rules on 2 life groups on husband/wife businesses. When they banned husband-wife 2 Life Groups, they killed the small group markets last affordable outlet and just pushed the middle class out of the affordability range.
Here is a freebie to take back to your clients especially if you are a broker in a state just beginning your experience with the reform market. These renewal increases are nothing. Just wait another 2 or 3 years when they finally wake up and realize their premiums collected and the 80% rule isn't enough to cover utilization costs from last year.
For the next few years you will be handing out 30% annual increases like you were handing out candy bars......you will be thanking your Creator when a group comes back at 15% (if it ever happens).
No, this is a mess and truth be told with all of the carrier reserves in place, I don't see how full repeal of the ACA is even possible.

 

[scagnt83]

SC is seeing increase requests from 10%-53%. Largest approved so far is 23%. Only 1 was denied outright. The rest have got what they asked for so far.

But, BCBSsc, the largest insurer in the state, is strangely missing from the increase requests... maybe they just havent filed it yet?

 

[sman]

But, BCBSsc, the largest insurer in the state, is strangely missing from the increase requests... maybe they just havent filed it yet?

Or their request is under 10%.

 

[scagnt83]

Or their request is under 10%.

I guess I should have read the first page better! lol

 

[Ann H]

I have been in this "reform market" since 1993 when NJ's PL 92-162 came into being. It was the first time in our nation's history we saw guaranteed issue, with state mandated plans (Plans A-E), State mandated coverages (the most recent being Viagara being mandated) and State Approval on both new and renewal rate structures.
We NJ brokers told all of you 5 years ago what was going to happen and no one wanted to listen.
There is no way guaranteed issue with mandated everything is going to be affordable. The poster who said only 2 people will be able to afford this, the rich and the subsidized has it right for the most part.
There were other options on the table that got passed over because it doesn't help meet the goal of Single Payer Universal Healthcare For All. Make no mistake, that's the goal.
The middle class lost any hope of affordable care when the ACA changed the rules on 2 life groups on husband/wife businesses. When they banned husband-wife 2 Life Groups, they killed the small group markets last affordable outlet and just pushed the middle class out of the affordability range.
Here is a freebie to take back to your clients especially if you are a broker in a state just beginning your experience with the reform market. These renewal increases are nothing. Just wait another 2 or 3 years when they finally wake up and realize their premiums collected and the 80% rule isn't enough to cover utilization costs from last year.
For the next few years you will be handing out 30% annual increases like you were handing out candy bars......you will be thanking your Creator when a group comes back at 15% (if it ever happens).
No, this is a mess and truth be told with all of the carrier reserves in place, I don't see how full repeal of the ACA is even possible.

Thank you for sharing your experience in the NJ market. It really helps make a road map for what we should expect. I had been watching the New England states for years, and worried that we were headed down the same path. Then along came Obamacare in 2010, and I knew it was just a matter of time!

 

[somarco]

If rates are increasing in part due to insureds getting care covered by insurance that would formerly have been cost shifted from the ER, from hospital sliding scale write offs or from government subsidized free clinics in cities/counties then wouldn't it be possible to show the reductions in ER admissions for uninsureds, people who are turned away from free clinics now due to qualifying for ACA subsidies, etc?

As Scott pointed out, ER visits are not on the decline. They are holding steady and in some cases, increasing.

The govt in their infinite wisdom thought moving millions of people from no insurance to a plan would reduce the number of non-revenue patients.

It hasn't.

At the same time, they reduced payment for uncompensated care which has further squeezed hospitals, especially in rural areas, causing many of them to close.

Bill Jones Didn't Have to Die - Georgia Medicare Plans (404)252-5859

Rural hospitals are not the only ones impacted. Metro hospitals have closed ER's due to non-rev patients + increased liability costs.

Low Medicaid reimbursement doesn't help either. Some of the hospitals that have closed had a majority of their patients on Medicaid and they were losing money.

Anyone that thinks Obamacrap is working to "bend the cost curve" needs to up the dose on their meds.

 

[RWKAgency]

Absolutely ER visits are on the incline. It had to happen seeing how provider networks are shrinking due to reductions in provider reimbursements. So now, docs don't take any in network patients be they ACA, MAPD or SNP and so where are these folks supposed to go? Yep, you guessed it...hello ER. This is what happens when you design a "a national health plan" with no input from people who actually do this stuff everyday.

 

[AllenChicago]

Anyone that thinks Obamacrap is working to "bend the cost curve" needs to up the dose on their meds.

If there is less demand for medical care, natural market forces will lower the cost of medical care in this country. Insurers cite serious illness treatments, and associated medications, as a major reason for increasing premiums so dramatically. But we can't expect the seriously ill to stay out of the medical system and suffer, just to help bend the cost curve.

Medicare being available to anyone would lower costs, but the best doctors would stop seeing these low-reimbursement patients.