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For Many Obamacare Enrollees, 2018 Will Be Cheapest Year Ever

Greenbeard said:
It’s a pretty safe bet that premiums are locked in for CY2018 at this point. Even the bipartisan Senate bill that seeks to undo Trump’s actions doesn’t actually change the premiums, it would just require insurers to rebate the value of the Trump Premium Hikes back to consumers.
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Hey! It's open enrollment at my employment right now and I read the new plan (there's only 1 offered). It still offers almost nothing except 1 visit a yr and some decent preventative stuff that's mandated by Obamacare but...my deductible is much lower. From Over $6000 last yr to $4000 this year. It's still a pretty poor health plan but comparable with the other lowest level ACA plans.

Nice. Now here' s praying for another healthy year where I dont need to use it!

(Edit: it is kinda sad that I'm happy about something that's not worth much but OTOH, my cost is minimal. Compared to plans on the Exchanges in my state. I also pay out of pocket for AFLAC)
 
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ludin said:
you cannot include subsidies and say ol yea it is cheaper.
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Given that the after-subsidy premium is what people actually pay every month, that's exactly what you can do and say.That's the entire point of making the tax credit advanceable.

"For Many Obamacare Enrollees, 2018 Will Be Cheapest Year Ever" is an entirely accurate statement.
 
Greenbeard said:
"For Many Obamacare Enrollees, 2018 Will Be Cheapest Year Ever" is an entirely accurate statement.
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Of course, so is "For Many Obamacare Enrollees, 2018 Will Be Costliest Year Ever"
 
Taylor said:
Of course, so is "For Many Obamacare Enrollees, 2018 Will Be Costliest Year Ever"
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Nobody is claiming Trump didn't drive up premiums for those people. But the important thing to note now that open enrollment has begun is that he accidentally benefited a lot more people than he hurt by doing that (again, thanks to the actions of the vast majority of states).
 
The markets are swimming in free plans for modest-income people next year!

Avalere is tracking: Most Counties Will Have Free 2018 Exchange Plans for Low-Income Enrollees
New analysis from Avalere finds that nearly 98% of counties with exchanges operated by HealthCare.gov will have free bronze plan options for low-income consumers aged 50 earning 150% of poverty or less ($18,090 for an individual or $36,900 for a family of four).
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1509568831_table%202.jpg
 
yep; cheapest year ever if you got the government paying for it.
 
jimbo said:
It's an easy number to figure isn't it. More people with more coverage and more inefficient government interference. Surely that will make health costs cheaper,

Reading through these posts, it seems like far too many think that government taking from some to give to others makes it free.
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No one thinks that. Thats one of the worst lies from the right, that the left thinks this stuff is actually free. We understand that everyone should have health insurance without it bankrupting them in the greatest and most wealthy nation on earth. The equation is complex, much more so than the oversimplified lymerics of the right, but everyone having coverage is best overall by whatever method we pick to arrange it. the cost is offset in multiple ways by the improved public health overall, early prevention of the bad later life chronic diseases. We should be empowering and encouraging the young adults to take responsibility over their health to build rapport with the health care industry. We will all end up much healthier and productive this way. If people can stress less about how to pay for something so crucial as health care, it frees them up to focus on their own growth and specializations.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
bluesmoke said:
“So where is my hand out? equal protection? ol yea not for working people.
or those the government deems makes too much money.”

If you took away government assistance from those with the lowest income, instead of being in or near poverty, they would be destitute. What is your solution? Raising the minimum wage to 15$/hr. would take millions off of government assistance. And remember, large corporations get subsidies, also.

“it has nothing to do with productivity or anything else.”

I didn’t say that improving productivity is the reason promulgating subsidized health care. I’m saying it’s a positive outcome and makes the subsidizing more economically feasible. However, it can’t be shown that lowering corp tax rates benefits the middle class. There are no data to confirm that conclusively.
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i work my ass off i don't get free anything yet other people can. then people wonder why we don't want government to have control of our healthcare.
 
Greenbeard said:
Given that the after-subsidy premium is what people actually pay every month, that's exactly what you can do and say.That's the entire point of making the tax credit advanceable.

"For Many Obamacare Enrollees, 2018 Will Be Cheapest Year Ever" is an entirely accurate statement.
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only if you want to be dishonest.

Premiums for popular Obamacare plans to soar 37% for 2018 - Oct. 30, 2017

sorry but premiums spike upward another 38%. sorry green if it is going up it means isn't getting cheaper.
so much for affordable.

yet again we have yet to seee healthcare prices go down under obamacare since it has been issues.
still waiting on my 1500 dollar reduction still haven't seen it.
 
ludin said:
i work my ass off i don't get free anything yet other people can. then people wonder why we don't want government to have control of our healthcare.
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“i work my ass off i don't get free anything yet other people can. then people wonder why we don't want government to have control of our healthcare.”

Large corporations get government assistance. They have lots of people like you working for them. Would you rather that large corps control all our programs, including healthcare?
Nationwide, premium increases before Obamacare were higher than after Obama Care, and the % of uninsured was continuing to rise, while about 20M more people are now insured than before, including a higher share of high-risk insureds:

https://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2016/07/29/health-premiums-after-obamacare-theyre-lower/

https://www.verywell.com/health-insurance-rate-increases-4083045

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/health-premiums-2017.aspx

Average annual growth in Medicare per capita spending growth was 1.3 percent between 2010 and 2016, down from 7.4 percent between 2000 and 2010.:

https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/the-facts-on-medicare-spending-and-financing/

https://www.kff.org/medicare/

Medicaid expanded to most states starting in 2014 under the ACA while still keeping benefit payment per capita rate of increase below the private insurance market rate of premium increases:

https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-...w-does-it-work-and-what-are-the-implications/

So, government paid Medicare and Medicaid payments are rising at a slower rate than private insurance premiums. Which would you choose, a government cost that goes up at a lower rate or the private costs that go up at a higher rate? Medicare should be expanded because it has much lower administrative costs than private insurance handlers.
 
bluesmoke said:
“i work my ass off i don't get free anything yet other people can. then people wonder why we don't want government to have control of our healthcare.”

Large corporations get government assistance. They have lots of people like you working for them. Would you rather that large corps control all our programs, including healthcare?
Nationwide, premium increases before Obamacare were higher than after Obama Care, and the % of uninsured was continuing to rise, while about 20M more people are now insured than before, including a higher share of high-risk insureds:

https://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2016/07/29/health-premiums-after-obamacare-theyre-lower/

https://www.verywell.com/health-insurance-rate-increases-4083045

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/health-premiums-2017.aspx

Average annual growth in Medicare per capita spending growth was 1.3 percent between 2010 and 2016, down from 7.4 percent between 2000 and 2010.:

https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/the-facts-on-medicare-spending-and-financing/

https://www.kff.org/medicare/

Medicaid expanded to most states starting in 2014 under the ACA while still keeping benefit payment per capita rate of increase below the private insurance market rate of premium increases:

https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-...w-does-it-work-and-what-are-the-implications/

So, government paid Medicare and Medicaid payments are rising at a slower rate than private insurance premiums. Which would you choose, a government cost that goes up at a lower rate or the private costs that go up at a higher rate? Medicare should be expanded because it has much lower administrative costs than private insurance handlers.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...to-outpace-rise-in-worker-wages/#2c3460634243

one article debunks you pretty easily using information from KFF which you posted.

I enjoy my private insurance. It covers quite a bit and it did before obamacare only it was cheaper than after obamacare.

That is because hospitals are charging money to people not the government to avoid re-admittance penalties. if they don't admit you to the hospital then
the government covers very little of the bill.

Wait obamacare was supposed to lower costs not raise them, or are you going to be like green and pretend that things going up mean they are going down as well?

Medicare doesn't cover everything. That is why people pay 300+ dollars a month or more for gap coverage.
i would pay significantly more as i have a family, and that 300 bucks is just 2 people.

you seriously need to do some research on things before the pie in the sky arguments.
PS the administrative costs on insurance are so high because of government.
 
ludin said:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...to-outpace-rise-in-worker-wages/#2c3460634243

one article debunks you pretty easily using information from KFF which you posted.

I enjoy my private insurance. It covers quite a bit and it did before obamacare only it was cheaper than after obamacare.

That is because hospitals are charging money to people not the government to avoid re-admittance penalties. if they don't admit you to the hospital then
the government covers very little of the bill.

Wait obamacare was supposed to lower costs not raise them, or are you going to be like green and pretend that things going up mean they are going down as well?

Medicare doesn't cover everything. That is why people pay 300+ dollars a month or more for gap coverage.
i would pay significantly more as i have a family, and that 300 bucks is just 2 people.

you seriously need to do some research on things before the pie in the sky arguments.
PS the administrative costs on insurance are so high because of government.
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“one article debunks you pretty easily using information from KFF which you posted.”

information is that?

“I enjoy my private insurance. It covers quite a bit and it did before obamacare only it was cheaper than after obamacare.”

Your claim cannot be confirmed. Remember, it's not just about you. It's about everybody. More people are getting coverage than before at a lower increase in cost than before.

“That is because hospitals are charging money to people not the government to avoid re-admittance penalties. if they don't admit you to the hospital then the government covers very little of the bill.”

You gave no data to support this claim.

“Wait obamacare was supposed to lower costs not raise them, or are you going to be like green and pretend that things going up mean they are going down as well?”

The premiums to go down was based on an assumption that more “healthy” people would purchase insurance, and not use it. That was a dumb assumption. Still, it’s better under Obamacare than before. Give specific facts otherwise.

“Medicare doesn't cover everything. That is why people pay 300+ dollars a month or more for gap coverage.”

The “gap” coverage covers what other non-Medicare insured’s would have to pay in out-of-pocket expenses.

“i would pay significantly more as i have a family, and that 300 bucks is just 2 people.”
Are you complaining that because you have a family, you have to pay more than “just 2 people”?

“you seriously need to do some research on things before the pie in the sky arguments.
PS the administrative costs on insurance are so high because of government.”

I gave facts that you cannot specifically refute. You’re just making unsubstantiated claims. Can you specify data to refute mine, each one, as I refuted yours, each one?
 
ludin said:
only if you want to be dishonest.

Premiums for popular Obamacare plans to soar 37% for 2018 - Oct. 30, 2017
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The Trump Premium Hike was loaded primarily onto those silver plans for next year in most states. That's the point! Because of the way Trump's artificial premium bump is being loaded the value of the subsidies will be greater next year than ever before. Meaning most subsidy-eligible people will find cheaper options than ever before.

This was all covered in the OP.
 
Greenbeard said:
The Trump Premium Hike was loaded primarily onto those silver plans for next year in most states. That's the point! Because of the way Trump's artificial premium bump is being loaded the value of the subsidies will be greater next year than ever before. Meaning most subsidy-eligible people will find cheaper options than ever before.

This was all covered in the OP.
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They have been going up that much since obamacare was implemented.
there has been 0 reduction in premium costs under obamacare.

not once has their been a drop insurance premiums they have continued to climb.
 
Greenbeard said:
But the important thing to note now that open enrollment has begun is that he accidentally benefited a lot more people than he hurt by doing that (again, thanks to the actions of the vast majority of states).
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Yes, I think it's worth highlighting the take-home message for this thread.

Obamacare: Higher-Prices = Good
 
Taylor said:
Yes, I think it's worth highlighting the take-home message for this thread.

Obamacare: Higher-Prices = Good
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Or as some local media markets are putting it, a pleasant surprise.

Axios today reiterated the point:

President Trump's decision to quit paying a critical Affordable Care Act subsidy has given most of the country access to insurance with no monthly premiums — nudging it, however inelegantly, in the same direction Democrats have wanted to go (at least for the poorest enrollees).

The bottom line, from Democratic health care strategist Chris Jennings: "The R's are driving in reverse relative to their repeal dream."
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Reality check: The irony of all this is that Democrats — including Hillary Clinton — have consistently pushed for increased premium subsidies, albeit in a much more straightforward way. (And of course they also want the government to continue the payments Trump cut off.)

  • "We could spend that extra money we are shelling out today to pay for the excess premiums far more efficiently and get more people covered more affordably," Jennings said.
  • Congressional Republicans would never have agreed to create more "free" insurance plans on the government's dime. Their repeal-and-replace bills would have substantially reduced the law's premium subsidies. But many experts think higher subsides will help. "That's what it's going to take to make the ACA work," said Chris Condeluci, a former Republican aide on the Finance Committee.
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It's still very early in the enrollment period but it's possible that Trump's accidental increase in subsidy generosity might have an impact: ObamaCare signups surge in early days to set new record

A record number of people signed up for ObamaCare in the first few days of open enrollment this year compared to the same period in previous years, several sources close to the process told The Hill.

The surge in sign-ups, which was confirmed by an administration official, comes despite fears from Democrats that enrollment would fall off due to the Trump administration's cutbacks in outreach and advertising.
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If that were maintained over the course of this open enrollment (still unlikely, given the steps the administration is taking to sabotage enrollment), that would be an astonishing backfire.
 
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