Comment: “I don’t remember saying that everybody in the country would have a lower premium,” Nancy Pelosi said recently. Well, let us refresh her recollection. When she appeared on Meet the Press on July 1, 2012, she claimed “everybody will have lower rates.” See it for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqONZAN_Us0. Now we see story after story in the news about premiums rising. In the article below, an actuarial study shows that tens of millions of people will face higher rates even AFTER subsidies:
“… a new study by two members of the American Academy of Actuaries finds that tens of millions of Americans will be exposed to increased insurance costs, even when one takes the value of Obamacare’s subsidies into account.”
“The new report, authored by Kurt Giesa and Chris Carlson, was published in the latest issue of Contingencies, the American Academy of Actuaries’ bimonthly magazine.”
“Giesa and Carlson estimate that 80 percent of Americans below the age of thirty in the individual market will face higher premiums, despite subsidies. “Our core finding is that young, single adults aged 21 to 29 and with incomes beginning at about 225 percent of the FPL, or roughly $25,000, can expect to see higher premiums than would be the case absent the ACA, even after accounting for the presence of the premium assistance.” Fully 80 percent of these twenty-somethings have income above $25,000:
“We estimate that almost 80 percent of those aged 21 to 29 with incomes greater than 138 percent of FPL who are enrolled in nongroup single coverage can expect to pay more out of pocket for coverage than they pay today—even after accounting for premium assistance. With a crossover point of about 300 percent of FPL for those aged 30 to 44, we estimate that about one-third of those older than age 29 with incomes greater than 138 percent FPL will see higher premiums even after accounting for premium assistance.””
Insurance Analysts: Obamacare to Increase Out-of-Pocket Premium Costs, Despite Lavish Subsidies
Avik Roy
1/12/2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/01/12/insurance-analysts-obamacare-to-increase-out-of-pocket-premium-costs-despite-lavish-subsidies/