The LuLac Edition #3366, December 3rd, 2016

THE REAL FACTS ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS

(Photo: Nationofchange.com)

There has been a lot of talk about Health Care premiums going up and the blame seems to be going to President Obama’s Health care act. The company I work for raised their rates this year. The rates held firm since the ACA went into effect. A four year run isn’t bad at all. It was Independence Blue Cross that raised the rates on my company. There were many litigating factors but the ACA wasn’t one of them.
Health Care is a necessity in this day and age. Individuals make a decision on what their priorities are. Do you want a new tricked out F-150 or health care? I’m stunned that many in this area will pay $600 a month for a vehicle lease but bitch about paying for health care. But that’s my opinion.
Our good friend Tom Ford posted this on Facebook the other day and I think it bears repeating. Here are his thoughts on the ACA, facts and fallacies.
ACA Marketplace premiums are going up an average of 22% in 2017. You are hearing from the anti-consumer echo chamber that this is proof that the ACA isn't working as expected.
Only, it is not. Put your lighters down -- before setting your hair afire, let's look at the facts.
--Private health insurance premiums are increasing as much as two to three times the rate of ACA plan increases. (65% in Texas, 44% in Pennsylvania, for example.)
--The ACA Marketplace rates for 2017 are in line with the 2009 CBO estimated projections on ACA premiums for 2017.
--The rate of increase under the ACA is still below the rate of increase for health insurance rates prior to the ACA; without the ACA, average rates would have been expected to increase 44% in 2017.
Now, take a look at why the rates are jumping in 2017.
--Most insurance companies under-estimated their costs when they entered the marketplace. Changes in the last two years have been adjustments to correct their errors. (But still, the actual costs in 2017 are nearly exactly what the CBO estimated before the ACA was passed.)
--Too many young people are failing to register, which would bring down the overall cost.
--The failure of states to accept Medicaid expansion and to fully-embrace the ACA has resulted in higher costs in at-risk groups and in higher premiums across the board. (ACA premium increases are as much as twice as high in states that refused to fully embrace the ACA from the start-- ie, running their own full state-based marketplace, expanding Medicaid and sticking to the original cut-off date for "transitional" policies. States that resisted the ACA provisions as much as they could have an average premium increase of 30%, states that fully embraced have an average increase of 15%)
--Political motivations -- a number of insurers have pulled out of markets (which they themselves had said were profitable) for purely political motivation.
Looking at the ACA Marketplace itself, about 80% of consumers receive subsidies based on their income, and 70% are eligible for plans that cost $75 or less per month. This is precisely what was intended. The subsidy costs are partially offset by reducing lost productivity and public cost of paying for health care for the uninsured, and the total costs of the ACA remain below the CBO estimates prior to passage.
The ACA is working as it was intended. The improvements which need to be made are largely the ones eliminated in the Congressional process before the ACA was passed, or through Court activism in re-writing legislation.
But, Donald Trump has selected an HHS Secretary who wants to return us to the pre-ACA private markets, which are more expensive, and cover millions fewer people, leading to greater collateral costs for us. That takes us in exactly the wrong direction.

MEDIA MATTERS

"CASH FOR..............KIDS?" NOT ON A COMEDY!!!

There is a show called “Impastor” on TV Land. The show stars Michael Rosenbaum, as a slacker on the run from a loan shark, steals a man's identity and ends up posing as a small town's new gay pastor. Buddy Dobbs
This week’s episode centered on a Judge sending kids to a Juvenile Detention Center in a “Kids For Cash” scheme. Man, that was an unbelievable plot line. Never heard that happening anywhere. Here’s a clip:
http://www.tvland.com/video-clips/uj0358/impastor-impastor-clip--the-cobra