General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIt's official: GOP sabotage to blame for double-digit Health INsurance premium increases
For my family at least--there might be a few brothers who vote Republican who just might think twice about voting for repugs again. Both are crying about these premium increases. There is hope!
Its official: GOP sabotage to blame for double-digit premium increases
By
Alison R. Parker -
May 23, 2018
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has spoken: Americans are about to see major spikes in their health insurance premiums. And the Republican Party is squarely to blame for it.
Republicans couldnt manage to fully repeal Obamacare, so instead they chipped away at the laws foundation. And now the Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that Americans are about to pay the very real price.
According to the CBOs analysis, health insurance premiums will rise by double-digit percentages in 2019.
Insurers are expected to raise premiums for benchmark plans offered through the marketplaces in 2019 by an average of roughly 15 percent over the premiums charged in 2018, the report notes.
In addition, premiums for nongroup health insurance will be about 10 percent higher in 2019.
And what does the CBO say is largely behind these spikes?
Well, they likely wouldnt happen if the individual mandate penalty remained in place and was enforced.
That would be the individual mandate that Trump and the Republicans succeeded in doing away with by cramming the repeal into their tax scam bill in December 2017.
That sabotage will also lead to millions of Americans losing their health insurance entirely. The number of uninsured people is projected to rise by 3 million in 2019, mainly because of the elimination of the penalty associated with the individual mandate and the higher premiums resulting from that change, the CBO notes.
And the numbers only get worse the further out one looks.
That number rises by another 3 million over the following two years, on net, as more people adjust to the fact that they no longer face the mandate penalty, the report warns.
Despite Republican attempts to deride and demolish it, Obamacare only grew in popularity over the years, as more and more people were finally able to obtain health insurance and access care. The individual mandate was integral to making the overarching system function. It ensured that healthy people would be on the rolls to balance out those with chronic illnesses who have costly health care needs.
Doing away with the mandate and the associated penalties means that young, generally healthy people may choose to forgo insurance because they dont want to pay for it. And thus insurers are taking in fewer premiums while paying out a lot in claims for those who are not so fortunate.
And it is those people who will either have to give up their insurance, or break the bank trying to pay for their rising premiums and their medical care.
Republicans have mendaciously claimed that anyone, including cancer patients, can simply go to the emergency room for all of their medical needs. And House Speaker Paul Ryan insisted all along that the only people who might lose their coverage due to his partys attacks on Obamacare are those who dont care about keeping it............................
Martin Eden
(12,847 posts)Rethugs are the greatest threat to the health and well being of the American people.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Moral Compass
(1,513 posts)Texas Blue Cross and Blue Shield has enacted a policy that they will pay zero on emergency room visits that later they determine were not emergencies. Wrap your mind around that one.
mikeysnot
(4,756 posts)it was a feature!
PatSeg
(47,282 posts)not a partisan issue. It doesn't matter whether you wear a funny looking red cap and vote republican, they're still going to charge you more, but I suppose it could hurt a lot more if you voted for the people responsible.
Of course, I realize that there is the extreme hard core, who would find some way to blame Obama, all while clinging to those dang guns that Obama they know is coming back to take away, before he proclaims himself king for life.
Boomerproud
(7,943 posts)dalton99a
(81,406 posts)MiniMe
(21,709 posts)Almost by 50%, can't imagine it going up that much again. I think the main reason for me is that I hit 60