Obamacare Premiums Rise as Insurers Fret Over Law’s Shaky Future

Hey if your 40 and have an extra $700 a month, you can get a silver plan. Don't forget about the huge deductibles and copays.

That’s true in Maryland, too, said Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer. There, carriers are requesting average rate increases from 18 percent to 59 percent. That means in the Baltimore area next year, a 40-year-old could buy a basic “silver” plan for $714.95 a month from CareFirst, or one from Kaiser Permanente for $359.25 with a more limited network of doctors.

Obamacare is going to break the system. If left alone the medical system was going to crash post ACA. I sat in meetings when working for a large international company and saw the hand ringing as the private insurance was cranking up the costs back at the turn of the century.

Health insurers are asking for sharp increases in the cost of their Obamacare plans next year, thanks to instability in the law’s coverage markets that’s been compounded by the Trump administration.

So premiums are rising is because of prescription drugs and medical costs. I can't see a way out of this, selling insurance across boarders? That is really all I hear.

There are several other factors to blame for rising premiums, including underlying medical costs.

“We are seeing claims experience that reflects increased medical and prescription drug costs along with higher utilization,” Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade said in a statement.

a reply to: seasonal

sorry, you aren't correct here. A few folks will be along soon to explain how popular the ACA is and how splendidly it's working.
Things like facts and figures relating to the cost for a garbage plan you can't use aren't really important. It's all about how it makes you feel. (try smiling)

actually, I called the insurance company the other day to see what they would cover for some things I wanted to get done. I was told 75%. After I pay my $5000 deductible. What a super policy. But it's the one I can afford through my wife's work.

Young, healthy people aren't signing up for coverage. Just the sick people are. And as premiums increase, the problem only gets worse, because the already-crappy coverage gets even more diahretic (if that's not a word, I'm coining it) and unattractive to people who can do without coverage for the time being.

Already there have been cases of areas where there was almost zero insurers in a region. A county in Arizona, and the entire state of Alaska, almost lost their last ACA provider, before state authorities scrambled to find someone willing to extend coverage.

a reply to: network dude
Be like me and be a State employee and get on the sweet State health care. I would be so screwed if I had to get the same insurance offered to you plebs.

Instead, I am on the State plan and I pay $98 a month for health and dental, which is superior to most silver plans.

The ACA has royally screwed the hospital I work at. There is no question it was going to bust, the only question was how much damage it did first.

a reply to: seasonal

Yeah, the CEOs who own the insurance companies also own the hospitals. There's just nothing we can do about that. The hospitals over charge by HUGE amounts. There's nothing we can do about that. And then because the hospitals charge so much the healthcare insurance providers are just forced to raise healthcare insurance taxes. And there's nothing we can do about that. And the CEOs are making HUGE profits owning both sides of the equation and there's nothing we can do about that.

Oh well, we are just going to have to accept the 20% rise in healthcare premiums over the last 30 years. Every five years it doubles in price. But there's just nothing we can do about that. We have 320 million people in this country and we just do not have the resources or the capability to take care of each other. There's just nothing we can do about that. The American people are not like everyone else in the World. We are not strong enough. We are not smart enough. There's just nothing we can do about healthcare. We just can't.

I've said it once, I'll say it again... insurance is a gamble.

You buy car insurance to cover the costs *in case* there's an auto accident.

You buy home insurance to cover the costs *just in case* there's a problem there, too.

The bankers, with forced insurance due to ridiculous price increases which stem from a debt based economy have convinced people that insurance isn't optional... and now they've gone and made it law.

Forcing me to buy protection against a potential cost- sounds a lot like paying out protection money, doesn't it?

Of course the cost is going to keep going up until it collapses. They've risen the prices beyond the affordability range for the majority of people, so anyone who wants healthcare *will* pay, or die trying.
What incentive does the industry have to lower costs?
Not a single one. Doctors can raise their prices all day long, they'll never have fewer patients. Pill manufacturers can raise their costs even faster.

The great reset is coming. Good luck to all those who spend their days extorting the general public once money doesn't matter anymore- You'll find that all the money in the world can't buy your life back... just like victims of our broken system are finding out every day right now.

a reply to: lordcomac

Health is not a gamble. Everyone is going to die.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: network dude
Be like me and be a State employee and get on the sweet State health care. I would be so screwed if I had to get the same insurance offered to you plebs.

Instead, I am on the State plan and I pay $98 a month for health and dental, which is superior to most silver plans.

The ACA has royally screwed the hospital I work at. There is no question it was going to bust, the only question was how much damage it did first.

You sound like a congressman. But all kidding aside, I am glad you have good coverage. I also appreciate that you grasp that some don't due to the ACA.

a reply to: network dude

ACA is garbage. The only reason my coverage is so low is because they restricted my network to only cover my hospital and it's affiliates (granted it's a huge hospital). So as long as I stay in network it's cheap, if I go elsewhere I pay out of pocket out the butthole.

originally posted by: seasonal
Hey if your 40 and have an extra $700 a month, you can get a silver plan. Don't forget about the huge deductibles and copays.

That’s true in Maryland, too, said Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer. There, carriers are requesting average rate increases from 18 percent to 59 percent. That means in the Baltimore area next year, a 40-year-old could buy a basic “silver” plan for $714.95 a month from CareFirst, or one from Kaiser Permanente for $359.25 with a more limited network of doctors.

Obamacare is going to break the system. If left alone the medical system was going to crash post ACA. I sat in meetings when working for a large international company and saw the hand ringing as the private insurance was cranking up the costs back at the turn of the century.

Health insurers are asking for sharp increases in the cost of their Obamacare plans next year, thanks to instability in the law’s coverage markets that’s been compounded by the Trump administration.

So premiums are rising is because of prescription drugs and medical costs. I can't see a way out of this, selling insurance across boarders? That is really all I hear.

There are several other factors to blame for rising premiums, including underlying medical costs.

“We are seeing claims experience that reflects increased medical and prescription drug costs along with higher utilization,” Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade said in a statement.

Psh.. the system was broken way before Obama care...

With all these type issues, abortion, social security, welfare exc. people forget how bad the problem was BEFORE they implemented whatever law..

There is a reason every other modern country on planet earth have dropped insurance companies...

They don't preform a medical function, yet take 25+% off the top of every dollar spent on health care... that is just crazy...

So instantly, without looking any farther, we are paying 25% more than necessary..

But it is far worse than that.

As a nation the WITHOUT A SINGLE PAYER OPTION, the US government pays twice per person what every other country pays, for half the services..


The reason even after the Obamacare repeal premiums will NOT go down , is because the insurance companies know we are the last country that uses them, and their days are numbered.

So they will milk us for all they can on the way out.


With all the billion dollar back room deals, I will NEVER understand how people can think it is the welfare queen beating the system for 7 grand a year who is the real problem..

Trumps plan has nothing to do with this, Obamacare is flawed. Whomever is blaming this on trump is telling a lie. Obamacare actually has provisions in it which make it hard to remove, it shifts the recuperation of the increase to the next quarter or year, along with extra interest paid by Obamacare to cover the increase. At least that is how I interpreted it when I read the information. So any lost money is made up in the future by insurance companies by increasing rates. So if the new law differs, how are insurance companies going to increase rates to cover losses.

Obamacare is a mess, a failed attempt at hiding true costs of the insurance till the next year. That is why insurance premiums keep skyrocketing. The unnecessary procedures need to be stopped, insurance companies no longer deny them because the more they pay out now, the more they make. They tack a percentage onto what is paid out to cover overhead and profit. I am not sure if that change started before or after Obama took over.

We got a mess here, Obamacare premiums will skyrocket if something is not done.

Someone is trying to blame this on Trump, the new law may bring foreward the recovered revenue for the insurance losses, but that is because of past changes in the way insurance company premiums worked. Insurance companies also pay out different amounts to different hospitals and doctors based on location and losses by customers who do not pay their bills. Our healthcare system and insurance system is really screwed up.

I'm going to get into some personal detail here because I think I'm a prime example of why individuals (and families) who own and operate small businesses like I do hate Obamacare. I know many on ATS don't care for posts with personal details... You have been warned

I have never signed up for Obamacare, mostly on principle. I have always payed the penalty and self-insured.

I am a healthy, fit, 53 y/o life-long non-smoker and very light occasional drinker. In 2016 I spent $3,100 on healthcare -- that included my yearly physical, allergy prescriptions (damn tree pollen!), and a broken bone in my hand (damn dirt bike). I paid cash for each of the 6 office visits and received a discount. I have seen the same pair of doctors for about 5 years now (they're interchangeable as far as I'm concerned).

If I would have paid for a mid-level "silver" plan, I would have spent about $8,000 and still had a $4,000 deductible. Why the hell should I do that? And why the hell would I VOLUNTARILY subsidize a massively-flawed system I instinctively knew would implode shortly after it was forced upon us?

No thanks.

I have recently found that after 53 years of never even having a cavity, I might need a little dental work in the near future, so i might regret not carrying the relatively cheap dental insurance, but other than that, screw Obamacare!

And I'm not too happy with Trumpcare either. I disagree with President Trump on this one thing. Obamacare should be allowed to collapse. There would be a short sharp shock to the system for those on subsidies. Medicaid and Medicare (administered by the states) would quickly pick up the slack.

This might sound harsh, but the 20 million "poor souls" who would lose coverage briefly after the Obamacare collapse almost all vote liberal anyway. It would be a good lesson for them.

I don't know what the final version of Trumpcare might look like, but right now I have every intention of maintaining the status quo out of principle. I'm not going to be forced by my own government to buy something I don't want or need, or to involuntarily be forced to pay for someone else.

If I am given the option of some form of supplemental catastrophic plan, I might bite on that, but only if it's voluntary and my premium is not subsidizing others.

Full disclosure: I do have an "umbrella" policy that I maintain so I can be bonded for certain types of projects (I'm in land development). There is a provision in that policy that would cover me in the case of accidental catastrophic injury, but not if there were some major health issue.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: network dude
Be like me and be a State employee and get on the sweet State health care. I would be so screwed if I had to get the same insurance offered to you plebs.

Instead, I am on the State plan and I pay $98 a month for health and dental, which is superior to most silver plans.

The ACA has royally screwed the hospital I work at. There is no question it was going to bust, the only question was how much damage it did first.

And that is about what every other modern country on the planet pays.. so why are we paying 3 times more???

Corruption and fraud at the highest levels..

a reply to: JoshuaCox
Obamacare is a perfect example of that fraud. Back room deals with insurers and drug companies to give them record profits on the backs of Americans.

a reply to: SBMcG

the choir applauds, preach on.

originally posted by: SBMcG
If I would have paid for a mid-level "silver" plan, I would have spent about $8,000 and still had a $4,000 deductible. Why the hell should I do that? And why the hell would I VOLUNTARILY subsidize a massively-flawed system I instinctively knew would implode shortly after it was forced upon us?

And then one day you are going to have a heart attack and you will have $140,000 of hospital bills. But since you can't afford that everyone else will be forced to pay for you. I get it having the heart attack is not your fault. And maybe it won't be you free-loading in the emergency room. I hope you can see my point.

I pay $1500 per month for my health insurance for my family. At some point when it becomes more than my mortgage I will have to drop it.

I am wondering what you think about this statement. I heard someone say it's not fair for him to pay for women to have babies. Do you think it's right for women to be in the same insurance pool as men?

originally posted by: dfnj2015
I am wondering what you think about this statement. I heard someone say it's not fair for him to pay for women to have babies. Do you think it's right for women to be in the same insurance pool as men?

If a man is willing to sterilize himself, and can prove he has not fathered any children to date up to the sterilization, he can be in a separate pool, along with women who do the same thing.

a reply to: seasonal


What's just as bad is that entire Hospital systems are now refusing to accept (non-emergency) people with ObamaCare insurance, unless they have other means to pay. It's a disaster.

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: seasonal


What's just as bad is that entire Hospital systems are now refusing to accept (non-emergency) people with ObamaCare insurance, unless they have other means to pay. It's a disaster.

Emergency departments can't refuse.

originally posted by: dfnj2015

originally posted by: SBMcG
If I would have paid for a mid-level "silver" plan, I would have spent about $8,000 and still had a $4,000 deductible. Why the hell should I do that? And why the hell would I VOLUNTARILY subsidize a massively-flawed system I instinctively knew would implode shortly after it was forced upon us?

And then one day you are going to have a heart attack and you will have $140,000 of hospital bills. But since you can't afford that everyone else will be forced to pay for you. I get it having the heart attack is not your fault. And maybe it won't be you free-loading in the emergency room. I hope you can see my point.

I pay $1500 per month for my health insurance for my family. At some point when it becomes more than my mortgage I will have to drop it.

I am wondering what you think about this statement. I heard someone say it's not fair for him to pay for women to have babies. Do you think it's right for women to be in the same insurance pool as men?

I will never be a burden to anyone, no matter what happens to me.

I can afford to self-insure.

I'll leave it at that.

A better question is this: When did subsidized healthcare become a responsibility of government and a right of the individual?

Certainly food and shelter are more immediate needs than healthcare. Why aren't we providing massive subsidies for those things too?

What about clothes? We can't all be running around in rags now, can we?

And laptops! We should all have laptops with free interwebs so we can all sign up for all these wonderful "rights" we have that are being "given" to us by government.

Where does it end...?