Obamacare is Single Payer with a time delay

[ProSense]

67. Oh

"I do not think you really understand the bigger picture"

...I fully understand the big picture, and an article quoting a wingnut paper is nothing but fear mongering.

Health Insurers Threaten To Increase Premiums, Even As Profits Soar

By Igor Volsky

Some of the nation’s largest health insurance companies are warning investors that they’ll raise insurance premiums by as much as 116 percent next year, as the coverage expansion provisions in the Affordable Care Act go into effect and millions of uninsured Americans begin purchasing coverage.

The threats of premium increases come as the industry is experiencing record profits and are part of a well-coordinated publicity campaign to alarm Americans about the cost of coverage, while downplaying mechanisms in the law that will cushion them from rate shock. The effort comes as insurers seek more favorable regulatory changes that would, in part, allow companies to charge older people more for coverage.

United Health Group Inc., Aetna, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield are ringing the alarm, attributing the possible cost increases to general health care inflation as well as provisions in the health care law, which require insurers to offer more comprehensive coverage, particularly in the individual health care market, and limit the companies’ ability to set premiums based on beneficiaries’ health care histories, age, or sex.

<...>

Insurers have long complained that the law’s more rigorous standards would raise prices, although since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, national health expenditures have decreased and insurers in the individual market have followed the trend, posting fewer double digit increases. Sudden rate hikes were considered the norm before the law went into effect and applicants were regularly denied coverage or priced out of it altogether. Insurance commissioners have also begun reviewing rates more carefully and insurers have had to spend 80 cents out of every premium dollar on health benefits, rather than administrative overhead.

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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/22/1761011/health-insurers-threaten-to-increase-premiums-even-as-profits-soar/

Health insurers are full of shit, and there are other mechanisms that will keep them in check.

Seniors saved over $6 billion on prescription drugs as a result of the health care law
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2013pres/03/20130321a.html

April 2012: $1 Billion In Rebates Coming Under ‘Obamacare’
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002613579

Sec. Kathleen Sebelius

Holding Insurance Companies Accountable for High Premium Increases

The Affordable Care Act prohibits some of the worst insurance industry practices that have kept affordable health coverage out of reach for millions of Americans. It provides families and individuals with new protections against discriminatory rates due to pre-existing conditions, holds insurance companies accountable for how they spend your premium dollars, and prevents insurance companies from raising your insurance premium rates without accountability or transparency.

For more than a decade before the Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums had risen rapidly, straining the pocketbooks of American families and businesses. Oftentimes, insurance companies were able to raise rates without explanation to consumers or public justification of their actions.



The Affordable Care Act brought an unprecedented level of scrutiny and transparency to health insurance rate increases by requiring insurance companies in every state to publicly justify their actions if they want to raise rates by 10% or more. Insurance companies are required to provide easy to understand information to their customers about their reasons for significant rate increases, and any unreasonable rate increases are posted online.

And it's working.

A new report released today shows that the health care law is helping to moderate premium hikes. Since this rule was implemented, the number of requests for insurance premium increases of 10% or more has dropped dramatically, from 75% to 14%. The average premium increase for all rates in 2012 was 30% below what it was in 2010. And available data suggest that this slowdown in rate increases has continued into 2013.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sec-kathleen-sebelius/holding-insurance-compani_b_2742501.html

Rules finalized for the good stuff in Obamacare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022415967

Wendell Potter Agrees: Big-Profit Health Insurance Almost Dead
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002390746