J
JAZZGASM
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...are-act-that-increased-premiums/#4e59740911d2
Again, as posted above, the data is flawed as it ONLY looks at increases in employer premiums, (AKA, the single premium per enrolled employee for employer based health insurance). Not the cost to employees, the amount of coverage, the deductible or out of pocket max. The ACA fundamentally changed the way most employers offer insurance to employees. The ACA requires employers with >50 FT employees to offer adequate and affordable coverage. In order to meet this test, employers can look at the employees W2 for a safe harbor to determine if their premium is affordable based on the ACA parameters. To avoid this costly and time consuming process, insurers are setting up plans where the cost to the EMPLOYEE for EMPLOYEE ONLY coverage costs are stable. However, if you want to cover your spouse or children, that is where the high costs come in to play.
The Forbes data shows through 2017, as does my pocketbook.:
"The data allow us to break down the pre- and post-ACA changes by age, individual vs. family, and plan type. Overall, Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) premiums actually decreased 4.6% in the four years before the ACA reforms came into effect (that is, from 2009 to 2013), but increased 46.4% in the first four years under the ACA. Point-of-Service (POS) premiums decreased 14.9% before the ACA, and increased a whopping 66.2% afterwards. Premiums for the more common Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans increased 15% in the four years before the ACA, and 66.2% afterwards."
Again, the fact check you listed is ONLY looking at increases in employer premiums. As I stated above, the ACA allows an employer to only provide affordable coverage for employee only, and can charge spouse or family any about without worrying about compliance issues or penalties. I'd love to hear other JF members with family coverage to see how much their premiums have increased from year to year, if their deductibles have gone up, increase to out of pocket max, increase of $ or % for office visit, etc. If I should have only seen a overall 2 to 3% increase per year, somehow my company, and those of my clients must have bad luck.
So the exchange has seen HUGE increases in premiums and employer premiums have seen little increase. MANY consumers, including myself, are only insuring themselves (employee) and their family through the exchange. At my firm, my employer pays 100% of my premium, but to add my wife and one child I am looking well over $1400 a month for a non-HDHP option. So my wife and daughter are on the exchange, where I pay $600/mo for them 2018, with a $2000 higher deductible, an increase from the $470/mo premium from 2017. I went back through my firms employee and benefits guides from year to year, and family coverage pre-ACA was nearly $1000 cheaper per month.
Looking at employer only premium increases is a flawed approach to determine the rising costs of insurance. And when you have 20M more insured, you would expect the costs to go down. Even when a good chunk of those premiums are coming from tax dollars as subsidies. Yet the hospitals are making more money as they don't have to write as much off as they did before, yet they haven't passed on any benefit to consumers.
Edit: The biggest problem with healthcare is we subsidize other countries, most of which cap the costs of drugs and durable medical equipment. We don't so we end up paying out of our *** to allow the medical companies to make a profit. I'd love nothing more than for us to go to a single payer system with caps on drugs and durable medical equipment, essentially matching what many European countries already do. Other countries will be in for a surprise when drug companies will no longer supply drugs at the capped prices.
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