ObamaCare Premiums to Skyrocket . . . Again
Obamacare premiums are set to skyrocket an average of 22% for the benchmark silver plan in 2017, according to a government report released Monday.
The price hike is the latest blow to Obamacare. Insurers are raising prices and downsizing their presence on the exchanges as they try to stem losses from sicker-than-anticipated customers. Enrollment for 2017 will be closely watched since insurers want to see younger and healthier consumers enroll.
Nobody could have predicted this . . . except anyone familiar with free-market economics.
Sad ding.
Patterico (bcf524) — 10/24/2016 @ 10:34 pmAnd so, as ObamaCare sings its same old sad & predictable song, we remember something else that spun in ever-narrowing circles . . .
Icy (1dd25d) — 10/24/2016 @ 11:54 pmR.I.P. Pete Burns, singer of those immortal lines:
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round
As a self-employed person, I can attest to this. My plan in Los Angeles is going up exactly 22%, and the deductible is creeping up a bit as well. But good news! I have several new services available to me that I will never use, but deadbeats might.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 10/25/2016 @ 1:09 amOn the other hand, Tom Hayden is dead, so there is some balance.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 10/25/2016 @ 1:10 amObysmalcare was never meant to actually work; it was only meant to pass, to establish the principle that the government is ultimately responsible for seeing that everyone had access to health care. Once it fails, as it will fail, the left will throw up their hands and say, “See, we tried it the conservative way, using the existing private insurance system, but it just didn’t work, and single-payer is the only thing that’s left to do.”
The option of not having the government responsible for health care is now off the table. Even the Republicans are advocating some sort of ‘repeal and replace’ ideas, which would still leave government responsible for seeing to it that everyone had health care. No one has the guts to say that no, government should not be responsible for seeing to it that everyone gets health care!
Well, I have the guts to say that, knowing full well that if health care isn’t somehow guaranteed, some people who can’t afford it will suffer or die due to the lack.
The political realist Dana (f6a568) — 10/25/2016 @ 3:15 amWhat I really hate is when people play the “right to life” card. You know…everyone has a right to life, so it’s the government’s responsibility to help me get the insurance I need to secure that right.
I have a right to liberty too, but I see no one saying that it is therefore the government’s responsibility to help me get a Glock.
Demosthenes (09f714) — 10/25/2016 @ 3:37 amDemosthenes wrote:
Right to life? Surely you don’t mean our government, the one which not only approves of a million executions of unborn children a year, but the leadership of which — both before and after this election — wants to see even more of them slaughtered?
If Americans were told that if they don’t work, they don’t eat, you’d see all of these supposedly unemployable Americans getting jobs, because hunger kind of concentrates the point to people. You’d see the illegals then forced out of the jobs they have, and have to return south of the border. You’d see people working instead of sticking their hands in other people’s pockets. You’d see families staying together, because they couldn’t make it economically apart. Every problem we have would be solved by ending welfare!
The Dana seeking an honest man (f6a568) — 10/25/2016 @ 3:57 amThis makes a fine perverse incentive.
Eric Wilner (3936fd) — 10/25/2016 @ 4:42 amBy 2018, I expect to have much lower living expenses… except for health-plan premiums, which promise to be the biggest single line item by a large margin.
So maybe I’ll want to earn less and qualify for the subsidies? Less time working, more time fishing: sounds like a plan. That’ll bring my tax bill down, too.
It’s all fine until some future administration decides the subsidies were illegal, and demands repayment.
It was the norm, back in the day, that physicians were the primary factor in healthcare, and physicians as a whole felt/ believed in a responsibility to care for the sick even if they could not pay. The patient had some felt responsibility to pay what they could.
It did work that way, at least for many. The chairman of my residency took care of CEO’s as well as unemployed who couldn’t pay.
Government has indeed morphed from a servant of society to the god that is looked to as the savior.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 10/25/2016 @ 4:47 amFalse gods always disappoint and leave one dismayed.
Had Obamacare for two years now. Haven’t used a penny of the medical. Not prescriptions or eyeglasses either. (Just the dental which is no worse than my previous plan.) It’ll be just fine with me if I never do and all my premiums go for Nancy Pelosi’s constituency’s anti-retrovirals. It’s insurance, and like all insurance I hope I never need it.
But lemme ax you folks this? Do you even know what the “penalty” for not complying with the “mandate” is? Cause I do and I’ll tell you what, it ain’t got a single blessed thing to do with my choosing to have health insurance.
nk (dbc370) — 10/25/2016 @ 5:29 amI take it nk, you are happy with your Obamacare? You sound enthusiastic. Perhaps you could do an ad?
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 10/25/2016 @ 5:43 amPS. Did I mention that I kept all my doctors? And hospitals? Because when I was signing up for the plan I wanted there was this bolded blue lettering, I think they call it a hypertext link, and when I clicked it, it took me to this page where I could put in my doctors’ and hospitals’ names and see if they were part of the plan’s network. Amazing.
nk (dbc370) — 10/25/2016 @ 5:47 amI’m never happy when I have to spend money, Hoagie. If we could only get all those darn doctors to spend twenty years in school and three to eight years in residency and then treat us for free, then I’d be happier.
nk (dbc370) — 10/25/2016 @ 5:49 amBut basically you seem to be one of the few who have had a good Obamacare experience. I mean other than people who manage to weasel out a free or almost free plan on the backs of their neighbors.
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 10/25/2016 @ 6:33 amThe government has been trying to ‘solve’ the ‘healthcare problem’ for decades, and for decades it has (according to the government, anyway) only been getting worse.
Funny, that.
C. S. P. Schofield (99bd37) — 10/25/2016 @ 6:37 amI mean other than people who manage to weasel out a free or almost free plan on the backs of their neighbors.
I don’t envy them. They’re poor and they’re sick. I’ll count my blessings.
nk (dbc370) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:22 amAnd that’s their neighbor’s responsibility how? But that aside, they are not necessarily poor or sick. I’m familiar with more than a couple people who have “laid themselves off” and get full coverage free or very, very cheap. They’ve gamed the system. Funny, you can’t game the system when you pay your own way. And what makes you think they’re sick? Because even though Obama lied and said all the young, healthy folks who don’t need nor have insurance are gonna have to buy it now? Try again. And I know of noone who has paid the “fine”.
The very idea of a one size fits all health insurance policy is preposterous and anyone who has ever been in the insurance business knows that. The very idea of an insurance company buying a claim as in taking preexisting conditions is also preposterous for the same reason.
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:47 amThat’s the way the Democrats operate. They’re going to keep breaking things until they’re fixed.
It isn’t just Obamacare. Just look at all the fruit the crown jewel of Obama/Clinton/Kerry diplomatic achievements, the “pivot to Asia,” is bearing these days.
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Duterte-Philippines-China/2016/10/20/id/754466/
They “pivoted” to Asia “diplomatically” back when Clinton was SecState. But they never “pivoted” militarily as to do that you have to have a military left to to “pivot” with. But all Obama has been doing with the military is to gut it.
http://thediplomat.com/2012/04/must-u-s-navy-downsize-plans/
These idiots thought our “allies” (I only put allies in scare quotes because it’s not clear to me whose side we’re on these days, and it isn’t clear to our traditional allies either) wouldn’t figure out what was obvious to everyone back in 2012 who could read and had two brain cells to rub together. To “pivot” to a maritime theater like the Western Pacific/South China Sea/Indian Ocean the US would need a Navy. And the Sophomore Prom Decorating Committee administration wasn’t planning to have much of one.
Since the whole point of the “pivot” was to respond to a growing Chinese threat, and we’re advertising we’re shrinking, what the hell did they think countries like the Philippines who have to live in that neighborhood were going to do?
When Tiger Beat was first elected back in 2008 I think it was Newsweak that photoshopped him into FDR as they fantasized about his historic greatness. But I’d rather contrast him with a different Roosevelt. T.R. said speak softly and carry a big stick. King Putt on the other hand believes in lecturing loudly and … wagging his finger. Because given our defense budget DoD can’t afford sticks.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:59 amThis sounds like more scare-mongering by Republicans.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 10/25/2016 @ 8:01 amObamacare is wonderful!
Maybe Trump should have went to Manila instead of Mexico City.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 10/25/2016 @ 8:30 amPS. Did I mention that I kept all my doctors?
Well, I kept all but one. But it wasn’t easy and that wasn’t really the object of the exercise. There are some cheaper plans that what I chose, but they don’t cover the three world-class hospitals I have available (the one I chose covers all of them). Some work a LOT better if you speak Spanish.
And I will say this favorable about Obamacare: the removal of the “preexisting condition exclusion” was a good thing. People didn’t really get to their 50’s without running afoul of that thing, one way or another. It was never something that was a factor in employee insurance, but it was applied to conditions WELL below those that would limit employability. Good riddance.
Which isn’t to say that the rest of Obamacare was needed. McCain had a much better plan.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 10/25/2016 @ 9:32 amMaybe Trump should have went to Manila instead of Mexico City.
Maybe Trump should have stayed in New York.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 10/25/2016 @ 9:34 amAn unfriendly state is one you can cede to the enemy without loss of face. Obama should start a rumor that the United States is prepared to recognize that the Philippines are part of the sovereign territory of the People’s Republic of China upon adequate consideration in return, and let the Philippinos decide what to do with Duterte.
nk (dbc370) — 10/25/2016 @ 9:48 amLike the Koreans, it might not matter much to the Phillipine people in that “at least its not the Japanese” with whom they have more bloody grievance. But it does tie into this thread –regarding source markets of medical professionals.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 10/25/2016 @ 9:59 amthey will raise the fine next year, after the election, till it becomes prohibitive, it’s only when you find you need to use, for say an appendectomy, that you find you can’t afford to use it,
narciso (d1f714) — 10/25/2016 @ 10:54 amyes from medicare bill to hmo bill to the emtala fix to kennedy kassebaum, to robertscare, it’s like a spiral of doom,
narciso (d1f714) — 10/25/2016 @ 10:58 amthis is deliberate malpractice, but by all means stay with the squirrels,
narciso (d1f714) — 10/25/2016 @ 11:08 amthey will raise the fine next year, after the election, till it becomes prohibitive, it’s only when you find you need to use, for say an appendectomy, that you find you can’t afford to use it,
You also find you can’t afford not to use it, and that appendectomy would cost more without insurance for anyone who ISN’T a deadbeat.
As someone who bled through the nose paying every last dime of the premiums and copays when my wife was having her cancer cured, I gotta say there is no such thing as unusable insurance. Rack rate for her treatment at the best hospital west of the Rockies was about $300,000 (and no, we never considered “second-best”). Yes, we had to pay about $15K but: perspective.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 10/25/2016 @ 12:33 pmNow, if you want to compare Obamacare to your employee coverage, it’s simple: Obamacare SUCKS. McCain’s plan would have fixed that and made it so that your employee plan was YOURS not the employer’s so it was portable and designed to suit. And, btw, not involving exchanges or state lines.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 10/25/2016 @ 12:36 pmAll medical insurance is increasing in price, not just Obamacare.
gp (0c542c) — 10/25/2016 @ 2:17 pmYou all knew that, right?
That’s because medical costs rise inexorably.
No form of insurance or govt meddling can fix that, no matter how desperately we wish they could.
But Obamacare is increasing more rapidly, since about half the recipients are previously uninsured and some have advanced untreated illnesses. These are also insulated from the costs, which are borne by the self-employed who pay the bills. So, for THEM the costs are going up twice as fast as otherwise. National sacrifice zone. Pretty good if you aren’t in it ahole.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 10/25/2016 @ 4:20 pmAww, c’mon, Obama gives you free pap smears and breast exams for life and this is how you thank him. You are an ungrateful man.
Or were you referring to the fact it covers your drug counseling and methadone?
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 10/25/2016 @ 6:52 pmHere’s what I’m looking forward to.
First the set-up. The government creates a bureaucracy. Two really, one at HHS, the other at the IRS. And world’s most expensive and crappyest website that took longer to launch than it took us to win WWII and it still didn’t work. Then it fines people who don’t use that website to purchase something they don’t want. But lots of people who are forced to by necessity to use the website to interface with the federal bureaucracy as well as companies that are so heavily regulated they might better be considered public utilities have to settle for some one-size-fits-all inferior product. Some of those people will receive a federal subsidy if they fall into a “gap” between some multiple of the poverty level and dismal fever swamp of Medicaid. Others who are above that threshold will really be just transferring money to other people. Meanwhile the public utilities that are “selling” this centrally planned government product have to spend 80 cents of every dollar on the consumer and can only keep 20 cents for themselves.
And they call this a market. Only somebody who could confuse a Lada dealership in Brezhnev-era Moscow with a Maserati showroom in 2016 La Jolla would confuse this with an actual market.
In other words, your typical Ivy League grad these days. Or Bernie Sanders.
But now flash forward to September 2018. Obamacare has finally crashed and burned for the last time. Only the most desperate of the chronically ill are still trying to use it, but like a market in Caracas the virtual shelves are bare. President Clinton is holding a press conference. She begins her remarks:
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:34 pm@31 What did I write that makes me an ahole? Just curious.
gp (0c542c) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:38 pmYou tried to be an apologist for the hoax and lie to Gruber’s stupid voters that is ObamaCare.
I didn’t use the term, but I guess that was the explanation.
Yet one more guaranteed promise by Obama broken.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:42 pmI learned a fair bit here, this is why intent is the unspoken element in this story,
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6ab_1289451125
narciso (d1f714) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:46 pmIt didn’t have to be a hoax and a lie. It could have been a safety net for catastrophic illness. Instead it became the bread and butter of the health care delivery industry by paying for routine care. For health maintenance. That is what is what is driving up the costs. Those doctor visits for $80 a pop just to check the pulse, temperature, and blood pressure, followed by $500 of blood work and $800 worth of radiology. The coverage for contraceptives and the coverage for sex change surgery are piddling amounts compared to the aforementioned.
nk (dbc370) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:55 pmSteve57 (0b1dac) — 10/25/2016 @ 7:34 pm
No, it doesn’t really fine anyone, or all this – and the clawbacks of subsidies – have been postponed.
Obamacare is a failure in many many different ways.
Or for eliminating fraud.
No, Bernie Sanders wants Medicare for all. He thinks you don’t need a market But how do you set prices? Obama thinks he’s created a market – for insurance. But insurance destroys the market for medical care. Which is the market that counts.
narciso @36. Obama was talking about 15, 20 years out. That means he did not envision an economic failure.
Nk @37. Too many people see doctors for no good reason except maybe to renew prescriptions – this takes up doctor’s time. Doctors do not get paid for telephone consultartions or supervision or nurses, who can examine patients and report anomalies that require his or her attention.
Sammy Finkelman (643dcd) — 10/27/2016 @ 12:41 pm