Obamacare kicks in - Health insurance rates down

[g5000]

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/images/HealthPremiumsRiseChart.jpg

 

[g5000]

Year over year GROWTH in national health expenditures:

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/YoY-quarerly-HC-grth.jpg

 

[g5000]

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/danmunro/files/2012/12/milliman1.png

 

[g5000]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/im...ium increases.jpg?uuid=k-aStOkOEeCWYL6E-yTJeQ

 

[g5000]

You won't find any authoritative source which says, "Health insurance rates down".

 

[g5000]

insurers are saving 2 billion over the rate they paid in 2010 according to Kaiser - and you can't even argue with the quotations above which demonstrate that finding.
Let me allow you to vent some philosophical angst since analysis of econometric data is obviously far beyond your pay grade.
Obamacare caps insurer profit margins - they have to refund anything they net over that cap. That is 2 billions of savings so far. the premium savings are going up while the rebates go down.
The next savings will be in the form of increased competition - something you likely wouldn't understand anyway since con men know how to say free enterprise but all they do is act to kill it through using the state to promote oligopoly. We will s trt getting the competition savings NEXT year!

We are spending $2.5 trillion a year on healthcare.

$2 billion is 8 hundreths of one percent (0.0008) of that total.

The cost of healthcare is going up far, far, far faster than 8 hundreths of one percent a year.

You are whooping over a smokescreen. A red herring. A ruse. Bait and switch. A con.

 

[Katzndogz]

What is true is that what the government is paying for health care is down. That's because they stopped paying the medical providers. Of, if they haven't stopped all payments, their reimbursement rate is so low, it costs the providers too much and they don't perform that service. Suppose you need a new knee and the cost of that knee is $10,000. The government pays only $3,000. The doctor can't afford to pay the reminder so you don't get a new knee. The government's health care costs have gone down by $3,000.

It looks super on paper.

 

[crussmith2]

At least you posted something about health. But the total cost of medicine is not the cost of insurance to consumers.
Eventually we do have to bend the curve of the total dollars spent on medicine down. the best way to do that is curb insurance companies profits forcing them to get serious about reducing the payments made to medical vendors. and Obamacare does that! Insurance companies have a choice - stop paying 20 dollars per aspirin to hospitals or make way for a company that will!

 

[crussmith2]

Your blurby diagram is no study at all as far as i can tell - let me dig into it - since ou don't say anything about the source of the numbers

 

[crussmith2]

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/images/HealthPremiumsRiseChart.jpg

This ione was obviously made about 2004 and says clearly that it is a projection based on premiums increasing 6.4$ a year. Please - don't brng thi9s weak stuff. Projections from 2004???? get real - somenting big changed since 2004 - and the sae Kaiser foundation says premiums are in decline now

 

[ScienceRocks]

Consumers across the country are now saving over a BILLION dollars because of Obamacares cap on insurance premiums and have already gotten back over 1 billion in rebates from over charging insurers according to the Kaiser foundations analysis

Beyond Rebates: How Much Are Consumers Saving from the ACA?s Medical Loss Ratio Provision? | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

If this is true=good. How does Obamacare effect the standards of healthcare people are getting and innovation for America?

 

[g5000]

The next savings will be in the form of increased competition - something you likely wouldn't understand anyway since con men know how to say free enterprise but all they do is act to kill it through using the state to promote oligopoly. We will s trt getting the competition savings NEXT year!

You think a government run health insurance exchange is "increased competition"?

Holy...shit.

You don't even know what insurance competition looks like even though it is in front of your face every single day.

Progressive ads. All State ads. GEICO ads. I can buy my life, auto, and home insurance from a wide variety of companies, from ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY.

Every life, auto, and home insurance company can sell across all state lines to anyone they wish. And the buyers can choose how much or how little of each insurance they want.

And if they lose their jobs, their home, auto, and life insurance policies don't automatically stop.

And if they stay with the same insurance compay for a long time, they get big discounts.

"Increased competition." BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Stop...please...stop. You're killing me.

The government run health insurance exchanges are going to be chock full of corruption. Those companies which can pay the biggest bribes to Congress will get on those exchanges, and lock out competitors.

And you don't think those exchanges won't be politicized? Holy fuck. "How many transgender people do you have in your company? Not enough." "You must offer free abortions to hookers."

So forth, and so on.

"Increased competition." On a government run exchange. Man oh man, you are one foolish person.

 

[ScienceRocks]

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/danmunro/files/2012/12/milliman1.png

Wow,

That sucks.

 

[crussmith2]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/im...ium increases.jpg?uuid=k-aStOkOEeCWYL6E-yTJeQ

Update - now the washington Post is printing the Kaiser reduction in insurance premiums as the news:
The average employer health plan now costs $15,745, and that?s kind of good news

 

[Wry Catcher]

I don't know about everyone else but our insurance premiums have been going up pretty much, every other month. It even went up $10.00 this month and we get our insurance on our own.

It's getting to expensive and we are going to cancel it after this month as soon as we get check ups. We will keep the health insurance for our children, but my wife and I won't have any.

If true, and I doubt that very much, your decision is dumb.

 

[crussmith2]

Some of the above are about total medical spending which is related to but not the same thing as insurance premium - total medical spending is what insurance companies pay to medical providers like hospitals - not what insurance costs to consumers
The rest are old projections that today's Kaser news puts to bed.
TODAYS news is that insurance premiums are going down
They are going down because their is a cap on insurer profits and the overage is being returned to consumers.
Now if you want to refute this new trend you will have to
A) Find where the new information is in error
or
B) Show that it will change in the future
YESTERDAYS trends are what Obamacare is reversing - of course they were bad - and they are now getting better.

 

[crussmith2]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/im...ium increases.jpg?uuid=k-aStOkOEeCWYL6E-yTJeQ

Update - now the washington Post is printing the Kaiser reduction in insurance premiums as the news:
The average employer health plan now costs $15,745, and that?s kind of good news

 

[Meister]

Affordable Care Act insurance funding for pre-existing conditions falling short

WASHINGTON -- Federal funding is running out for an Affordable Care Act program meant to provide temporary health insurance for people with pre-existing medical conditions, forcing states to stop signing up new participants.
Critics say $5 billion was never enough to fund the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program, or PCIP, and that financial problems were exacerbated by overrepresentation by enrollees with very serious medical conditions -- such as cancer and heart disease -- that are expensive to treat.
Read more: Affordable Care Act insurance funding for pre-existing conditions falling short - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Faced with lower-than-expected funding to implement the ACA, Sebelius since March has been soliciting donations from industry executives, community organizations and church groups for an ACA outreach campaign headed by Enroll America, a not-for-profit coalition. HHS last month confirmed Sebelius' donation requests.

Read more: GOP Senators Call for Formal Probe of Sebelius' ACA Funding Requests - California Healthline



Hmmmm, the other part of the story.

 

[Stephanie]

must be magic...

 

[OriginalShroom]

Those with no jobs can't afford to pay insurance no matter how cheap it is.

Obamacare Forces Employee Hours to Be Cut at Indiana Schools | The Weekly Standard

Obamacare regulations are forcing employers to cut employee hours at Indiana schools, according to the Courier-Journal.

“Schools across Indiana are cutting back the hours of teacher assistants, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other aides to avoid having to offer them health insurance under the federal health care employer mandate that begins next year,” reports the paper.