Insurance Companies Win Big With ObamaCare : Higher Premiums, Higher Profits

I after reading this and understanding where this all heading, 'single payer health care', the heath care that we have enjoyed and trusted is now in peril. And it's not just for the 10% that didn't have any insurance, let alone good health care as they all did, remember it the law that no one, not even illegals are guaranteed care, but all of us across the nation will now not only be denied good insurance, but the quality of care will nearly gone as well.

I guess what is most troubling to me is the majority of voters seem not to understand what they are giving up by voting for progressive socialist Democrats? A majority of voters, citizens, seem to agree individual freedom to choose how they live isn't important any longer, they seem more then willing to accept a life of dependence on government rules, regulations and demands. I wonder how many of these citizens have ever heard of Liming's and what happens to them when they become confused?

Sarah Palin's comment that we are being 'enslaved' to our government under ObamaCare was on the mark, but she was viscously attacked by the progressive socialist Democrats in the media and by our government.

Why is this attack on our basic freedoms so hard for so many among us to understand? What basic moral fiber has been stripped out of our souls to allow our nation to become a sink hole of despair and failure? How can 48% of the population still believe, after all that has gone before, that the progressive socialist Democrats are doing a good job?

Where did this sickness of complacency and ignorance of self identity come from, and how did it spread to so many good people so easily? Why is it so much easier to just lay down and roll over then to stand and be counted as a proud American with a history of independence and courage?

Has our 326 year history of individual freedom and independence this easy to cast aside? In less then 5 years, we have lost our way?

Another Way Taxpayers Lose Under ObamaCare
Source: Robert F. Graboyes, "Another Way Taxpayers Lose Under ObamaCare," U.S. News & World Report, November 11, 2013.
November 26, 2013

State insurance commissioners have long seen themselves as protectors of the public's wallets -- the officials who say "no" to insurers' requests to increase health insurance premiums. It has not yet sunk in that on this coming New Year's Day, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will flip the commissioners' motives upside-down, prompting them to approve and even encourage premium increases, says Robert F. Graboyes, a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center and professor of health economics at Virginia Commonwealth University.

• Under the ACA, a family of four with $30,000 in income will only pay $600 for, say, a $10,000 insurance policy. The federal government will cover the remaining $9,400.
• Under the "medical loss ratio" rules, the insurer can keep $2,000 for overhead and profit. The remaining $8,000 must go to health care providers -- doctors, hospitals, therapists, etc.

Now, suppose the insurer raises the premium to $20,000.

• The family of four will still pay only $600. The federal government absorbs 100 percent of the increases and must now kick in $19,400 instead of $9,400.
• The insurer doubles payments to providers by paying higher reimbursement rates and by expanding the menu of benefits, (e.g., more tests, more surgeries, lengthy spa visits.)

Again, the enrollee pays no more for insurance, but providers get $16,000 in income rather than $8,000 -- and insurers retain $4,000 instead of $2,000. Plus, the enrollee gets much more generous benefits. No insurer has any motive to reduce premiums, since no purchasers will benefit.

Some critics argue that a swelling-premiums scenario would never occur because state regulators would never approve such increases. But why not?

• Until now, commissioners were strongly motivated to hold the line on costs. Until now, forbidding insurers to raise premiums meant more money in the wallets of the state's voters and possibly the state's health care providers, too.
• Now the commissioner who insists on lower premiums reduces the amount of care available to subsidized voters and doesn't save them a dime.
• Because of the ACA's bizarre structure, higher premiums now mean better benefits for subsidized enrollees; higher incomes for doctors, hospitals, other providers and insurers; and higher state tax revenues from now-richer providers and insurers.

The only loser is the U.S. taxpayer, who must pay for these swelling costs.