Tuesday, July 7, 2015

"Health Insurance Companies Seek Big Rate Increases for 2016"

"Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected..."
Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans — market leaders in many states — are seeking rate increases that average 23 percent in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36 percent in Tennessee and 54 percent in Minnesota, according to documents posted online by the federal government and state insurance commissioners and interviews with insurance executives.

The Oregon insurance commissioner, Laura N. Cali, has just approved 2016 rate increases for companies that cover more than 220,000 people. Moda Health Plan, which has the largest enrollment in the state, received a 25 percent increase, and the second-largest plan, LifeWise, received a 33 percent increase.

Jesse Ellis O’Brien, a health advocate at the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, said: “Rate increases will be bigger in 2016 than they have been for years and years and will have a profound effect on consumers here. Some may start wondering if insurance is affordable or if it’s worth the money.” (read more)

13 comments:

AllenS said...

But, it's for your own good.

rhhardin said...

It's called adverse selection.

I just got a notice that my former company want to get out from under uncertain pension obligations and are offering a lump sum payoff to close it out.

This doesn't quite work right because sick retirees go for the lump sum and healthy retirees go for the annuity. All the percentages are wrong. It's the free market at work.

Force is the solution.

Amartel said...

Smells like they have been putting off these rate increases until Obullshit is out of office. So the rate increases are steep as they've been delayed several years. No matter! So long as none of it attaches to Teh Dear Leader. Perhaps they can blame the GOP! So easy! The GOP practically blames itself for everything.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

1. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.
2. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
3. Families will on average save $2500 annually.
4. Obamacare won’t add a dime to the deficit.

hahahahahahahaha
additionally, we all remember Obama's populist rhetoric against those big mean insurance companies. The same big insurance companies who are taking in the tax payer funded money for big profits.

AllenS said...

7th of June 2015 --

If you do, or do not like your rate increases, you can keep getting your rate increases.

edutcher said...

You wanted it, you got it.

Good and hard.

Ritmo from his bunker telling us we hate poor people because they need that little red pill in 5, 4, 3...

bagoh20 said...

"It's called adverse selection."

I was taught the term "Electoral College".

Methadras said...

edutcher said...

You wanted it, you got it.

Good and hard.

Ritmo from his bunker telling us we hate poor people because they need that little red pill in 5, 4, 3...


Uh, I hate poor people. They are the problem and the reason why this mess started to begin with. In fact, poor people are the reason we have a lot of messes in this country. We are always cleaning up the fucking horrid decisions that poor people make in their lives and they all splash on over to the rest of us that aren't poor, don't make poor decisions, and try to live productive lives. Poor people don't. They are poor and remain poor for one primary reason, they are horrible decision makers. All of them.

I hate them. They are truly a vacuous parasite on the body of rational productive peoples everywhere. We are always finding ways to try and uplift them and they give all of us the finger. We subsidize them, we pay for their food, we pay for their housing, we pay for their clothes, everything and all we get in return is give us more asshole. They have no impetus to change and all because of some twisted egalitarian logic that is built on the premise of christian charity that we must, nay, we are utterly obligated to debase ourselves at the altar of the poor. Well fuck them to hell. They have done nothing for us and I'm tired of doing anything for them. Obamacare is the result of the 30 million uninsured canard. Yeah, well that was bullshit. War on Poverty has spend nearly $15 trillion to see more multi-generational poor than ever before. The quest to help the poor has led us down a road of insolvency.

Enough with helping them. Make them help themselves for once. No more money, no more charity, no more.

edutcher said...

You want to discourage something, tax it; you want to encourage something, subsidize it.

chickelit said...

Rates may be going up for us, but for the first time ever, tens of thousands will be able to afford free subsidized coverage. The sky's the limit on the number who can share in this bounty.

Some Seppo said...

Nice rant Meth. I agree that as a protected class, poor privilege has to go. Bring back the poor house, the poor farms, the CCC and the WPA. Remove their bastard children they only use as a meal ticket and put them in successful foster homes. Oh, then I'd gladly help pay their health insurance.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Meth:

I was in Quebec City last week. It is the cleanest, most prosperous looking city I have ever seen.

On the ride there from Vermont through the Quebec province, I didn't see any homes or businesses or properties that were run down or dilapidated. I was fascinated - how do they do it? Strict zoning laws, etc?

Once we got to Quebec City, we were told the economy is great and crime is very very low. We saw only only 3 cops in three days and we stayed in a downtown hotel and explored the city for three days. We saw workers setting up the stage for a Rolling Stone concert next week and they didn't have to have 3-4 cop cars standing around to block traffic. I did not see any homeless or beggars either.

The only factor we could think of was they don't have to deal with a large, dependent population of people who can't figure out how to prosper in today's world.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Meth - poverty increases and democrats win. That's the economic model and their plan. Then, we all grow poorer.

#winning.