The Truth About Health Insurance Premiums

[DearAbby]

The new law has brought increases for some. But GOP leaders exaggerate.


Summary

Leading Republicans in Congress are blaming the new health care law for double-digit rate increases being sought by insurance companies in Washington state, New York and Connecticut. But insurance regulators, leading health care experts and the companies themselves mostly blame an old culprit: rising medical costs.

Improved benefits required by the new law are responsible for a relatively small portion of the increases. Furthermore, the increases apply mostly to those buying policies individually, not the majority who get private insurance through employers. Those with employer-provided plans won’t see as much of an increase in premiums, since many of their policies already include the required benefits, a spokesman for an insurance trade association told us.

Some Republicans have claimed the law is responsible for "whopping" premium increases, but they have misrepresented the facts in the process. For example:


* House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner said premiums will "skyrocket" because of the law, citing a report on rising premiums by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the Kaiser report covered increases that took effect before the law was signed.

* Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell points to a news story about a Washington insurance provider that blamed premium increases on the health care law. But the state insurance commissioner says the increase had "absolutely nothing to do with health care reform," and the insurance company later admitted the law is only partly at fault.


* Both politicians refer to premiums for new plans on the individual market, where only about 6 percent of those with insurance now get their coverage.

More:

http://factcheck.org/2010/11/the-truth-about-health-insurance-premiums/

[dennis4868]

1. For 99% of the people...

Facts don't mean anything anymore.... That's why repubs have a chance in each and every election.

[kenny blankenship]

2. The truth about health insurance premiums is that they will go up as long as health ins co.s exist

and are allowed to form the center of health care delivery and metering. The premiums will always go up. They are already too high but they will keep going up.

[3waygeek]

3. My company has been able to strike some good deals...

the last couple years -- premiums didn't go up last year, and won't go up this year. Hearing the stories about double-digit increases at other companies is a bit confusing -- we've managed to negotiate for zero percent the last two years, so why can't they?

Many companies are bigger and thus should have more clout negotiating with insurers. We also have a bit of a disadvantage in that we're in a number of small offices scattered across the country, so there are only a few insurers who can serve all of our locations, giving us less ability to pit one insurer against the other. So why have we gotten such good terms when everyone else says they're getting hammered?