ObamaCare’s impact on health costs.
Private insurance plans typically require some form of cost sharing, or out-of-pocket costs, such as copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles. This brief shows the cost sharing in plans sold to individuals through Healthcare.gov for 2016, with a focus on the variation in the ways plans may set cost sharing for services, such as physician visits, prescription drugs, and hospital stays.
According to HealthPocket.com, Bronze plan deductibles are rising on the Obamacare federal exchanges by an average of 11% to $5,731 and Silver Plan deductibles are rising by 6% to an average of $3,117. A survey by the Commonwealth Fund published last November found that three in five low-income adults and about 50% of adults with moderate incomes believe that deductibles are “difficult or impossible to afford.”
A recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study reveals that ObamaCare Marketplace plans are a bad deal, even for near-poor enrollees receiving large subsidies from the federal government. The study confirms that net premiums (after subsidies) were still several times what enrollees might have paid out-of-pocket for medical expenses had they remained uninsured.
According to findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Americans who bought the least expensive plans on the most popular tier of insurance sold on HealthCare.gov will see premium increases an average of 15% next year unless they switch to a different health plan. In nearly three-fourths of the counties where consumers can purchase insurance through the federal exchange, the plan that was the lowest-price option this year will no longer have the least expensive premium next year.
When President Obama’s landmark health care law ushered in a slew of new insurance options in 2013, the Andersons could not wait to sign up. But in April, when Roger Anderson fell while hiking and hurt his shoulder, he discovered, to his dismay, that simply being insured was not enough. The Andersons’ mid-tier health care plan costs them $875 a month and requires them to meet a $7,000 deductible before insurance payments kick in. Their experience echoes that of hundreds of thousands of newly insured Americans facing sticker shock over out-of-pocket costs.
After ObamaCare went into effect in 2010, Mike Merkel’s health insurance jumped from $585 per month to $1,400 per month for his family of four. When he looked into switching his insurance plan, Merkel was told by his state’s health exchange, Covered California, that he was ineligible for tax credits.
The Obama administration officials are touting low premiums available during open enrollment on Healthcare.gov, but for many new patients receiving coverage under the ObamaCare exchanges, the sticker shock of sky-high deductibles leaves them just as vulnerable as before they were covered. The New York Times found that in many states, more than half the insurance plans offered on the federal exchanges had deductibles of $3,000 or more.
A local family that bought what they thought was a premium plan discovered they were going to have to pay thousands of dollars per year out of pocket for what other insurance plans would have covered.
Millions of Americans who recently began shopping for new health insurance coverage under Obamacare may be suffering from sticker shock. Increases in 2016 premiums for health insurance coverage — ranging from basic to top-flight policies — will be in the double digits and easily eclipse premium hikes recorded between 2014 and 2015, according to a new analysis from consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
Zeke Emanuel is tired of paying for your expensive medicine. Dr. Emanuel, who served in a senior position at the Office of Management and Budget where he contributed to the recurring nightmare known as Obamacare, recently complained in the New York Times [“I Am Paying For Your Expensive Medicine”] that his insurance rates are high because the medicines you’re taking cost too much.