NPR Audio: Obama Administration Touts Lower-Than-Expected Obamacare Premiums

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Premiums in the health insurance exchanges set to open next week will be lower than anticipated, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.

According to a report released by the Department of Health and Human Services, “premiums nationwide will … be around 16 percent lower than originally expected,” and 95 percent of uninsured people live in a state with average premiums that are lower than expected.

But while the premium “rate shock” that many predicted may not be materializing, there may be other things about the new health plans that consumers may not like that much.

Until now, the only premium information that’s been released publicly about the Obamacare exchanges has been for states running their own, and in many, the rates have been lower than expected.

More: Administration Touts Lower-Than-Expected Obamacare Premiums : Shots - Health News : NPR

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37 comments
1 I Subscribed!  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 9:41:06am

A couple of years ago, my own health insurance company set up a system with a significantly lower premium and a smaller network (otherwise the same as the “regular” plan, which was also still there). Since my doctor wasn’t in the cheaper network, I stayed on the high-priced plan for a year, to see what would develop.

The next year my doctor’s medical group got themselves onto the cheaper network — they were losing too many customers to do anything else, I believe. The issue, underneath it all was that we have (had?) one large for-profit hospital group in the area, and their rates were 40% higher than the others (no improvement in care was detected, as far as I know). It will be interesting to see how this shakes out; in the meantime I wouldn’t assume that a smaller network is necessarily worse than the larger one.

2 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 9:56:10am

But I heard from a former health insurance lobbyist that rates rose by sixty jillion percent and he has anonymous sources to back it up!

3 lawhawk  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 9:56:27am

The US gov’t set up Healthcare.gov to answer many key questions about the changes in the access to health insurance under Obamacare.

But they also point to Kaiser Family Foundation’s benefits calculator to see what a person might expect in terms of out-of-pocket costs, federal subsidies, and additional details.

This tool illustrates health insurance premiums and subsidies for people purchasing insurance on their own in new health insurance exchanges (or “Marketplaces”) created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Beginning in October 2013, middle-income people under age 65, who are not eligible for coverage through their employer, Medicaid, or Medicare, can apply for tax credit subsidies available through state-based exchanges.

Additionally, states have the option to expand their Medicaid programs to cover all people making up to 138% of the federal poverty level (which is about $33,000 for a family of four). In states that opt out of expanding Medicaid, some people making below this amount will still be eligible for Medicaid, some will be eligible for subsidized coverage through Marketplaces, and others will not be eligible for subsidies.

With this calculator, you can enter different income levels, ages, and family sizes to get an estimate of your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on health insurance. As premiums and eligibility requirements may vary, contact your state’s Medicaid office or exchange with enrollment questions.

The calculator can be embedded here btw.

4 HappyWarrior  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 9:59:38am

GOP complains about Obama spiking the football. Our meme is destroyed.

5 darthstar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:07:00am

With all the money they save on lower premiums, teabaggers will be able to afford even more tri-corn hats and misspelled signs for their protests!

6 darthstar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:07:24am
7 Bulworth  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:07:31am

re: #4 HappyWarrior

GOP complains about Obama spiking the football. Our meme is destroyed.

Obama is also a meanie and the most divisive president in history and why won’t he negotiate with the GOP since he wants to negotiate with all our enemies?????

////

8 Lidane  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:08:45am
9 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:09:09am

re: #7 Bulworth

Obama is also a meanie and the most divisive president in history and why won’t he negotiate with the GOP since he wants to negotiate with all our enemies?????

////

BECAUSE OBAMA IS A MEANIE DOODY-HEAD SEEKRIT MOOZLIM

10 Bulworth  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:09:35am

And then there are these mutherf0cking fuks.

Harare, Zimbabwe (CNN) — More than 80 elephants in Zimbabwe have been poisoned with cyanide — the latest victims of poachers keen to feed soaring global demand for illegally trafficked ivory.

Since May, the carcasses of 87 elephants have been discovered in Hwange National Park, said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, public relations manager for Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

The poachers poisoned natural salt licks to bring down the mighty beasts, she said Wednesday.

cnn.com

I imagine America’s RWNJ will take credit for this, too.

11 Bulworth  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:10:21am

re: #8 Lidane

Doesn’t matter if the filibuster was faux or that the vote doesn’t matter or that the quote is faked it’s all TROOF!

/

12 Kragar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:11:03am

re: #8 Lidane

[Embedded content]

So after all that, he votes it down anyways?

13 HappyWarrior  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:12:01am

So Cruz just basically wasted everyone’s time in what was just an effort to kiss the GOP base’s asshole.

14 Gus  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:13:43am
15 Gus  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:14:48am

Yep.

16 Kragar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:16:07am

Ted Cruz declines Reid’s offer to continue speaking so he can make Limbaugh appointment

Cruz acknowledged that Reid had the right to end his speech on the Senate floor, and he agreed to stop talking by noon.

As the hour neared, Reid offered to let Cruz and his Senate supporters continue talking until 1 p.m., when a cloture vote is scheduled on the government funding bill.

But Cruz stuck to his earlier agreement with the Senate’s top Democrat, perhaps because he had other plans.

According to RushLimbaugh.com, the Texas Republican was scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. on the prominent conservative’s radio program.

17 Bulworth  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:16:11am

re: #13 HappyWarrior

We can hope the teabaggers will now believe that Cruz’s talkathon repealed, killed and defeated Obamacare for ever and ever, so that now the rest of us can get on with our lives.

18 dog philosopher  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:18:13am

cruz

all anybody will remember is “green eggs and ham”

19 Kragar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:19:16am

Democrat’s Obamacare question stumps Ted Cruz during faux filibuster

This woman’s name is Judy,” he continued, “and Judy is a housekeeper at a motel that I often go to and we’ve become friends. Judy has worked a whole life in manual labor. She’s been everything you can imagine, a cook, a waitress, housekeeper, all of these things. She’s 62 years old. Judy told me that she has never had health insurance one day in her life, ever. She’d worked every single day she could, but she never had health insurance.”

“It turns out that Judy was diabetic,” said the Illinois Senator, “and she found some hospitals and doctors locally to give her some care.”

Under Obamacare, he said, the state of Illinois will be offering 165 different health insurance plans from eight different insurance companies. Under Illinois’s Medicaid expansion, Judy will have health insurance in spite of her pre-existing condition. Durbin asked Cruz if he cares about the millions of people like Judy who would be insured under the Affordable Care Act.

Cruz thanked Durbin for the question and complimented him on his “sincerity and passion” in “believing in government solutions.”

“But I will say this,” said Cruz. “You tell the story of Judy. The best way for Judy or anyone to have health insurance is to have an economy that is booming, where people can get jobs and have opportunities.”

Durbin scoffed, saying, “I think your answer to Judy is ‘You need a better job.’ After working a lifetime, 62 years of hard work, the best that she can do. She’s never had health insurance and I think your answer was, ‘Judy, get a better job.’”

20 Gus  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:19:17am

Wingnut butthurt at eleventy.

21 Bulworth  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:19:33am

In the future, this date will be remembered as the date when the proud, severely conservative GOP saved Obamacare from Obama and the Democrat Party who wanted to defund it and repeal it.//

22 Kragar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:20:19am

re: #18 dog philosopher

cruz

all anybody will remember is “green eggs and ham”

The story where a grumpy big mouth says how much he hates something that he’s never even tried.

It fits.

23 lawhawk  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:20:44am

re: #13 HappyWarrior

No, it didn’t waste time. It was a Ted Cruz 2016 infomercial from which he will include clips in campaign advertising of his stand against Obamacare, even though if you do treat this as a filibuster (which it wasn’t), then he was opposing the very bill he was ostensibly for.

It’s pretzel logic 101.

24 Lidane  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:21:08am
25 Bulworth  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:21:12am

re: #19 Kragar

Obviously “Judy” shouldn’t want free stuff like a government handout insurance program and Freedom. //

26 andres  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:21:30am

re: #8 Lidane

There’s logic to his madness.

It’s just not logic based on anything on this world (perhaps it’s an imaginary world?).

27 Kragar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:23:36am
28 Dr. Matt  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:23:42am
29 blueraven  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:24:12am

Senate vote to advance the Continuing Resolution passes 100 - 0

Crazy Cruz Craptastic Fauxbuster Fail. He voted for cloture.

30 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:24:55am

re: #27 Kragar

Ted Cruz stayed up all night to fight ObamaCare. Obama went to bed while Ambassador Stevens was being murdered.

And GW Bush read “My Little Goat” while the WTC towers were being attacked…

31 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:25:49am

So Cruz did all this crazy shit so he could make a case to people who do not understand how the Senate works that he opposed ACA?

32 Kragar  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:26:06am

Bryan wants to get his theocracy on:

33 Bulworth  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:27:44am

re: #32 Kragar

Yeah why didn’t Obama stay up and talk while Ambassador Stevens was being killed? That would have saved him. /////

34 nines09  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:36:28am

re: #16 Kragar

From the toilet to the open sewer.

35 BongCrodny  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:39:00am

re: #23 lawhawk

No, it didn’t waste time. It was a Ted Cruz 2016 infomercial from which he will include clips in campaign advertising of his stand against Obamacare, even though if you do treat this as a filibuster (which it wasn’t), then he was opposing the very bill he was ostensibly for.

It’s pretzel logic 101.

First Rand Paul, now Ted Cruz.

The fauxlibuster is going to be a prerequisite for 2016 Republican Presidential candidates.

36 nines09  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:44:39am

When I first lost my job of 27 years in 2007 and after my Cobra ran out, it would have cost me and my wife $1300.00 a MONTH to have coverage even close to what I had as employed. In Pennsylvania you could not go across state lines and the pre existing conditions clause had us. I cannot see how anything could be worse than that.

37 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Sep 25, 2013 10:45:25am

re: #3 lawhawk

The US gov’t set up Healthcare.gov to answer many key questions about the changes in the access to health insurance under Obamacare.

But they also point to Kaiser Family Foundation’s benefits calculator to see what a person might expect in terms of out-of-pocket costs, federal subsidies, and additional details.

The calculator can be embedded here btw.

In a State like NC, which chose to opt out of Medicaid coverage for those who would be covered by it in the Fed plan, a single person making $10K/yr could be screwed, if they don’t qualify for Medicaid and they can’t use the subsidies, because they’re under the poverty level.

They would have to pay $2,535 per year, or 25% of their income for the Silver plan. “You will not be eligible for subsidies in the exchanges because your income is below 100% of the federal poverty level.”

This is going to be what happens to the working poor in those states which are resistant to Obamacare.


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