States okay big insurance premium increases caused by Obamacare
Finding out what’s in it: State insurance regulatory agencies have been routinely granting the gigantic rate increases requested by health insurance companies due to the costs imposed on them by Obamacare.
It’s the third year in a row for huge rate hikes, all due to the uncertainties built into the mandate-driven system of ObamaCare. The White House explained the hikes after the first year as an artifact of sudden access to care, but by year three that explanation has worn thin. The cost curve isn’t bending downward in any phase of health care, and it’s not even bending upward any longer. It’s skyrocketing, and insurers are reflecting that in their premium hikes.
At the same time that premiums have escalated, of course, deductibles have expanded almost exponentially for some families. Consumers are paying outrageously high premiums for insurance they will almost certainly never access, thanks to the need to spend thousands more out of pocket on top of these premiums before insurers have to cover anything but wellness checks.
Obviously this is the fault of Bush-Reagan and the evil Republicans in Congress, none of whom wrote or voted for Obamacare and in fact opposed it vehemently. Obama and the Democrats, who wrote the law and then forced it through Congress, are obviously innocent of any blame for that law’s disasters. Let’s vote for them again!
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Finding out what’s in it: State insurance regulatory agencies have been routinely granting the gigantic rate increases requested by health insurance companies due to the costs imposed on them by Obamacare.
It’s the third year in a row for huge rate hikes, all due to the uncertainties built into the mandate-driven system of ObamaCare. The White House explained the hikes after the first year as an artifact of sudden access to care, but by year three that explanation has worn thin. The cost curve isn’t bending downward in any phase of health care, and it’s not even bending upward any longer. It’s skyrocketing, and insurers are reflecting that in their premium hikes.
At the same time that premiums have escalated, of course, deductibles have expanded almost exponentially for some families. Consumers are paying outrageously high premiums for insurance they will almost certainly never access, thanks to the need to spend thousands more out of pocket on top of these premiums before insurers have to cover anything but wellness checks.
Obviously this is the fault of Bush-Reagan and the evil Republicans in Congress, none of whom wrote or voted for Obamacare and in fact opposed it vehemently. Obama and the Democrats, who wrote the law and then forced it through Congress, are obviously innocent of any blame for that law’s disasters. Let’s vote for them again!
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I think mine might have dropped $25 or so but I have to spend around $12,000 before insurance picks up the tab for anything other than a yearly physical. Even doctor visits to manage preexisting conditions or go over blood tests cost $40-50 out of pocket for something that lasts less than 15 minutes and deals with pretty much nothing. Then there is whatever they charge the insurance company.
Its all a racket from the exam room, to the insurance providers, to the government.
Maybe it is calculated to ensure folk will accept a government run insurance like Canada’s where wait times can exceed life expectancy. Do not laugh, this happened to one brother-in-law who died (age under 50) before the government got around to testing the heart valve replaced about 15 years ago.
Recently my family actually had to purchase an Anthem BlueCross Obamacare plan.
It is sooooo much worse than you imagine.
Compared to the plan we had before, it costs way more. Many, many doctors don’t accept it. Deductibles and drug prices are very high. We are being forced to convert to getting drugs in 90 day increments via mail rather than at the local pharmacy, even when this results in negligible cost savings. This means we have to pay upfront for three months of an expensive drug rather than spread the costs out.
And the bureaucratic mess to find and sign up for a plan with all kinds of strange you-must-do-something by dates.
As an example, we were paying $70 per month per child for great insurance. Now we are paying $200 per month per child for crap.
It’s a goddamn mess.
1. Who did you vote for?
2. Are you going to vote for any Democrats in Congress in the next election?
I read and hear a lot of complaints about Obamacare and other Democratic legislation from people who then always turn around and vote for Democrats. For example, the year after Obamacare was passed I was visiting my brother and listened as he, his wife, and several of their friends, all in the medical profession, complained loudly of the stupidity of forcing digital records on the field when the medical field simply couldn’t afford it and wasn’t ready for it. When I politely mentioned that this stupidity was a feature of Obamacare, required by it, and was the reason digital records were happening prematurely and so stupidly, they got very huffy. I have no doubt they all voted Democrat in the next election, being liberal Jews.
Nothing is going to change until the ordinary voters stop voting for the incumbents, for the names they know, and for Democrats. Nothing. No point complaining if you aren’t willing to take that action.