Well now, what do we have here as being the latest news when it comes to Obamacare? While information about this boon to America’s uninsured has been slow in coming, of late, mostly because of the fascination too many in our ‘news’ media seem to have with a missing airliner, Health industry officials are now saying that Obamacare-related premiums are likely to double in some parts of the country, which, as is no surprise, seems to counter claims recently made by the administration. But we shouldn’t really be too shocked by this, as many claims have been shown to be false.
And I assume that this will be far from being music to the ears of many Democrats especially those seeking reelection this year. Because apparently, those expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid what is surely to be a rather intense election year with control of the Senate said to be up for grabs. The sticker shock could very likely bolster the GOP’s prospects in November and hamper ObamaCare insurance enrollment efforts in 2015. But we won’t know for certain just how big a part Obamacare will play until the dust finally settles after the election.
The industry complaints come less than a week after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, and congenital liar, Kathleen Sebelius did her very best to downplay any and all concerns about supposed rising premiums in the healthcare sector. Lying through her pearly whites, Ms. Sebelius told lawmakers that while rates would increase in 2015 they would grow much more slowly than in the past. In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee this lying sack of shit said, "The increases are far less significant than what they were prior to the Affordable Care Act."
Her comment was said to have baffled insurance officials, who said it runs completely counter to the industry’s consensus about next year. "It’s pretty shortsighted because I think everybody knows that the way the exchange has rolled out … is going to lead to higher costs," said one senior insurance executive who requested anonymity. The insurance official, who hails from a populous swing state, said his company expects to triple its rates next year on the ObamaCare exchange. The hikes are expected to vary substantially by region, state and carrier.
Other supposed health ‘experts’ were quick to point out that any predictions about premiums going higher are premature. One such ‘expert’, David Cutler, who has been called an architect of Obamacare, said, "Health premiums increase every year, so the odds are very good that they will increase next year as well. None of that is news. The question is whether it will be a lot or a little. That depends in part on how big the insurers think the exchanges will be." Spoken like a true bureaucrat. But still, I thought Obamacare was supposed to reduce cost.
The actual truth of the matter is that health insurance premiums have risen more after Obamacare than the average premium increases over the eight years before it became the law of the land. The individual market for health insurance has seen premiums rise by 39 percent since February 2013. Without a subsidy, the average individual premium is now $274 a month. Families have been hit even harder with an average increase of 56 percent over the same period — average premiums are now $663 per family, over $426 last year. So this thing just keeps getting better and better.
Regardless of what Barry’s minions may claim, it’s a fact that between 2005 and 2013, average premiums for individual plans increased 37 percent and average family premiums increased by 31 percent. So it’s a fact that premiums have risen much faster under Obamacare than in the previous eight years. Premiums are being hiked across the board for several reasons, but the biggest contributor Obamacare’s highly touted "essential health benefits," services that insurers on and off exchanges must provide. In other word government mandated services.
Some of these services, or so-called ‘benefits’, such as emergency and laboratory services, are uncontroversial. But many others, like maternity, newborn and pediatric services, are causing headaches for huge swaths of the population that simply don’t need them. For example, anyone past childbearing age, single men, the infertile, even nuns, their premiums are rising as well, because their plans must, by law, provide more services. But this is what happens when the government is allowed to insert itself into something that individuals are quite capable of taking care of themselves.
But premiums aren’t the only key to healthcare costs, we’re also seeing steep increases in both deductibles and out-of-pocket costs like co-pays. When it comes to employer health plans alone, four out of five U.S. companies have increased deductibles or are considering doing so. Prices may be people away from purchasing health insurance. It was a recent survey that discovered half of those who haven’t purchased health insurance yet this year cited their inability to pay the premium. So much for the "affordable" part of the Affordable Healthcare Act.
So I very much hope that the albatross of Obamacare remains very firmly hung around the neck of every single Democrat up for re-election this year regardless of his, or her office. Every Democrat running for elected office this year, whether it be for federal, state or local office, must be made to defend the party’s position, as well as their own, on what is nothing more than a massive intrusion by government into the private life of every single American citizen. We must rid ourselves of as many as possible of those who are in favor of instituting this kind of control and we must remember that the desire to control is imbedded in their Democrat DNA.
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