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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (36310)	4/30/2014 12:26:49 PM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Recommended By Brumar89 Respond to of 42652

Insurers Left to Guess at Rate Hikes Needed for Next Year By Jim Geraghty Here’s why Obamacare’s perpetual delays and deadline extensions matter: …Health insurers are already preparing to raise rates next year for plans issued under the Affordable Care Act. But their calculation about how much depends on their ability to predict how newly enrolled customers – for whom little is known regarding health status and medical needs – will affect 2015 costs. “We’re working with about a third of the information that we usually have,” said Brian Lobley, senior vice president of marketing and consumer business at Pennsylvania’s Independence Blue Cross. “We’ve really been combing the data to get a first look.” … WellPoint, the biggest player in the online exchanges, is already talking about double-digit rate hikes for 2015. How many insurers will hike rates a bit bigger than normal, to account for the uncertainty?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (36310)	4/30/2014 2:12:44 PM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Recommended By Brumar89 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

Bob Laszewski says the rate increases will be 9.9% -- because 10% is subject to regulatory review. What will the 2015 rate increases be? 9.9% There will be some variation in rate actions because the Obamacare enrollment outcome varies considerably among states. Also, some carriers' rates turned out to be too high and others too low when compared to their competitors which will likely lead to some compression in the local markets as these outliers get closer to typical rates. This could produce a few significant increases or decreases for 2015 ... Any rate increase of more than 10% is subject to regulatory review under federal guidelines. Ironically, if regulators challenge a carrier's rate increase, no matter how concerned the health plan is with the enrollment demographics, the carrier will have very little hard claim data with which to defend the action. Health insurers are also protected from most underwriting losses in 2015 because of the $20 billion reinsurance scheme. healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com Laszewski also points out that healthcare.gov still has no working reconciliation system, so the administration may not actually have the number of policies sold, though you'd think somebody could phone the insurers and ask.