Obamacare Costs Up for 2017

The monthly October tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that when voters are asked about what the next president and Congress should do about health care, issues relating to prescription drug prices and out-of-pocket spending far outrank proposals to address the shortcomings of the health law.

News broke Monday that premiums are set to soar 22-25 percent on average for users of most Obamacare health care plans next year, despite claims that the law would curb rising costs. But Minnesota, which uses a state-run exchange, will see a 59 percent increase, the HHS report said. “Unfortunately, recent headlines have suggested that the premium increases would be widespread when they will actually affect a small portion of New Mexicans”. “But 83 percent of them get subsidies”. “If people are willing to do some shopping, they may not have to see much of any increase in their premium”. “Doctor, that’s so confusing”, she interjected. “They know how to explain the pros and cons of each option, and they carefully screen each person to make sure any subsidies toward premiums, or any discounts available for deductibles or co-pays, are accessed”.

“Why does it have to be this complicated?” “We spend double our national income on providing health care than any other developed country”.

MA households are now spending about 7 percent of their incomes to cover health insurance premiums and deductibles, up from 5 percent a decade ago.

That means most workers are still insured by health policies they sign up for through their jobs.

The price hikes have renewed calls by Republicans to repeal the law, better known as Obamacare.

“Last year, more than 200,000 New Yorkers were kicked off their health care plans after Health Republic overpromised benefits to its consumers, and left NY taxpayers with the double whammy of having to pay for the its $265 million in losses”. “Everybody’s circumstance is different and depending on how much you make will depend on how much financial assistance you will receive”. That means insurers are paying too much money out, without getting the benefit of low-priced healthy folks paying premiums.

The Obamacare insurance exchanges are under strain after three major insurers pulled back from offering coverage in markets across the U.S. The administration says about 1 in 5 people buying insurance through the marketplaces will have only one company offering coverage.

If that’s increased by 13.5 percent, it goes up to $400 a month.

Several big insurers, including UnitedHealth Group Inc, Aetna Inc and Humana Inc, are pulling out of the online marketplaces selling the subsidized plans, citing bigger-than-expected financial losses. The three-month enrollment period that begins November 1 will be critical to expanding the risk pool.