Prices expected to double

[Quantum Windbag]

I have to admit that Obamacare bent the cost curve.

Some Americans could see their insurance bills double next year as the health care overhaul law expands coverage to millions of people. The nation’s big health insurers say they expect premiums — or the cost for insurance coverage — to rise from 20 to 100 percent for millions of people due to changes that will occur when key provisions of the Affordable Care Act roll out in January 2014.
“We’ve done all the math, we’ve shared it with all the regulators, we’ve shared it with all the people in Washington that need to see it, and I think it’s a big concern,” Bertolini said during the company’s annual meeting with investors in December.
To be sure, there will be no across-the-board rate hikes for everyone, and there’s no reliable national data on how many people could see increases. But the biggest price hikes are expected to hit a group that represents a relatively small slice of the insured population. That includes some of the roughly 14 million people who buy their own insurance as opposed to being covered under employer-sponsored plans, and to a lesser extent, some employees of smaller companies.

Insurers warn of sticker shock due to health care law?s new taxes, requirements as it expands - The Washington Post

If you like your insurance, and you are rich, you can keep it.

 

[Grandma]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

 

[Political Junky]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

Yes, cons do love the free market.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

It takes a twisted mind to blame the free market for something the government does.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Yes, cons do love the free market.

What free market?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

What power did the Republicans have to insist that insurance prices couldn't be capped when the Democrats had a supermajority? As you will recall, they didn't need a single Republican vote to pass this monstrosity.

You also voted for this president and supported his health care law that gave this huge windfall to these insurance companies that you're now complaining about.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

What power did the Republicans have to insist that insurance prices couldn't be capped when the Democrats had a supermajority? As you will recall, they didn't need a single Republican vote to pass this monstrosity.

You also voted for this president and supported his health care law that gave this huge windfall to these insurance companies that you're now complaining about.

Obamacare did not get a single Republican vote, but everything that goes wrong with it will be blamed on Republicans because they refused to go for a single payer system.

 

[Political Junky]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

What power did the Republicans have to insist that insurance prices couldn't be capped when the Democrats had a supermajority? As you will recall, they didn't need a single Republican vote to pass this monstrosity.

You also voted for this president and supported his health care law that gave this huge windfall to these insurance companies that you're now complaining about.

Well, I do know that under Bush, Jr. the price of prescription drugs couldn't t be capped in Medicare D ... a huge gift to Big Pharma.

 

[dblack]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

Even worse that the Democrats went along with it. All of this could have been avoided with a simple veto on the part of the president.

 

[dblack]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

Even worse that the Democrats went along with it. All of this could have been avoided with a simple veto on the part of the president.

Actually, to up the ante one more notch, the biggest tragedy of PPACA is that Roberts signed off on it - his decision endorses corporatist government as 'Constitutional' and sets precedent we're going to be eating for decades, at best, before we can shake it off. At worst, it does us in.

 

[editec]

I do not doubt the cost of health care is going to continue to rise far faster than inflation generally.

ACA does not, as far as I can understand it, do a forking thing to keep prices from rising.

If anything it will serve to make the cost of HC increase even faster.

It WILL, however, make selling HC insurance more profitable.

That was why it was crafted in the way it was.

Obama is a socialist?

Well then the society he is protecting includes the HC insurance companies, that's for damned sure!

 

[lynn63]

Obama should have put in place a rate hike freeze in 2009 for all Health insurance companies until 2014 when Obamacare is actually in effect.

 

[tap4154]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

LOL!!!!

This is ALL due to Dems and Obamacare, you loon.

It's making 98% of current individual plans illegal, FORCING us to purchase far more comprehensive HC plans against our will.

I honestly cannot believe this is happening in America.

States do have the power to mandate purchasing auto insurtance to drive, but it's only the very basic liability insurance that is required. For the federal gov't to MANDATE that just to exist in America we MUST purchase a comprehensive HC policy is is unconstitutional and immoral!

 

[Queecho Feecho]

Yeah, you got that right, the right wing's beloved corporate masters are cheering away as the insurance companies' profits will soar!!

Damn shame for the rest of America that the republicans insisted that insurance prices can't be capped.

It isn't that insurance companies' "profits will soar", it is that the underlying costs of health insurance, i.e. the costs of paying for healthcare for the insured individuals, will go up.

What business do you run, or what industry do you work in? If your costs went up, would you raise your price? Or would you operate with costs higher than your price until you were bankrupt?

 

[Grandma]

They're in absolutely no danger of bankruptcy.

 

[Oddball]

I do not doubt the cost of health care is going to continue to rise far faster than inflation generally.

ACA does not, as far as I can understand it, do a forking thing to keep prices from rising.

If anything it will serve to make the cost of HC increase even faster.

It WILL, however, make selling HC insurance more profitable.

That was why it was crafted in the way it was.

Obama is a socialist?

Well then the society he is protecting includes the HC insurance companies, that's for damned sure!

His aim is to overwhelm the insurers and drive them out of the medical insurance business....That would leave only on place from which to purchase insurance: the feds.

It's not as direct as just nationalizing medical insurance in one fell swoop....That wouldn't be subtle-like....But single payer (i.e. socialized medical care) is the desired outcome.

 

[Queecho Feecho]

They're in absolutely no danger of bankruptcy.

If costs are greater than price, then that leads to bankruptcy. Are you trying to dispute that?