The table below presents an update to our previous analysis of 2016 changes in premiums for the second-lowest cost (“benchmark”) silver marketplace plans in major cities in the 49 states and the District of Columbia, where we were able to find complete data on rates. Among these major cities, the percent change from last year in the benchmark premium ranges from -10.6% in Seattle, Washington to 38.4% in Nashville, TN. The simple average of these rate changes is 10.1% before accounting for the premium tax credit.
The next Open Enrollment period for the Health Insurance Marketplace begins on November 1, 2015 for coverage starting on January 1, 2016. According to an HHS analysis, about 8 out of 10 returning consumers will be able to buy a plan with premiums less than $100 dollars a month after tax credits; and about 7 out of 10 will have a plan available for less than $75 a month. Highlights of the 2016 Marketplace Affordability Snapshot include:
About 70% of those who return to the federal insurance exchange when open enrollment starts Nov. 1 will pay less than $75 a month after they receive tax credits, a government analysis released Monday shows. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also reported that for this third open enrollment about 80% of consumers shopping again on Healthcare.gov will be able to pay less than $100 a month after tax credits.
The Affordable Care Act includes trillions of dollars in new spending on healthcare subsidies and programs. This new spending is financed by new taxes, tax increases, and reductions to Medicare’s budget. The creators of the ACA (ObamaCare) understood that the law’s benefits (subsidies, expansions of existing programs, and new programs) would be more popular with the public than its tax increases, so many of the tax increases did not take immediate effect. The implementation of the more than 20 tax increases in the law was spread out over several years. The latest of the taxes is scheduled to come into effect in 2018. – See more at: http://iwf.org/publications/2798527/Policy-Focus:-Tax-Burden-of-the-Affordable-Care-Act#sthash.JhlJkjzM.dpuf
Given how unpersuasive some Obamacare rulings have been, it’s easy to become cynical. But both sides have won and lost on some big issues. Thus, it is a mistake to think that there are five justices who will always vote to uphold Obamacare. The Origination Clause challenge to Obamacare that the Supreme Court is being asked to review today, Sissel v. HHS, presents some truly novel issues, as the debate among appellate judges this summer demonstrates. It also justifies a review of ten myths about Obamacare litigation.
Opponents of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul are taking yet another challenge to the law to the Supreme Court, and say they will be back with more if this one fails. A new appeal being filed Monday by the Pacific Legal Foundation contends the law violates the provision of the Constitution that requires tax-raising bills to originate in the House of Representatives.
Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges open for business Nov. 1. Millions of Americans will soon have to log on to the digital state or federal marketplace to pick their plans for 2016. They’re in for a rude awakening. Obamacare is set to make insurance a lot more expensive next year. The law will increase its punishment for those who don’t obtain insurance. Many who do buy coverage on Obamacare’s exchanges will face premium hikes as high as 49 percent. Thousands of medium-size employers, meanwhile, will for the first time be subject to penalties if they do not offer coverage to their employees.
I can’t believe what I’ve been hearing recently from Obamacare defenders over the failing Obamacare co-ops–the most recent count has eight of them going bust. The biggest complaint seems to be that those mean Republicans forced these co-ops out of business because of a provision they included in the last budget.
What is the future of the Affordable Care Act co-ops? On Thursday, AEI’s Thomas P. Miller hosted a panel discussion on how the co-ops have fared so far and more particularly, why some prominent co-ops have failed.
Given how unpersuasive some Obamacare rulings have been, it’s easy to become cynical. But both sides have won and lost on some big issues. Thus, it is a mistake to think that there are five justices who will always vote to uphold Obamacare. The Origination Clause challenge to Obamacare that the Supreme Court is being asked to review today, Sissel v. HHS, presents some truly novel issues, as the debate among appellate judges this summer demonstrates. It also justifies a review of ten myths about Obamacare litigation.