ObamaCare premiums lower than expected

A story that doesn't seem to get as much attention as it should, particularly among those who, just a few months ago, bought hook, line, and sinker the myth that the cheapest plan available to a family would cost $20,000 (!). The folks with those outlandish expectations should be the most delighted by the good news.

Turns out competition does work.

ObamaCare premiums lower than expected - The Hill's Healthwatch

News that's cropped up again and again, including this week out in Montana

Not just lower than ACA projections, but lower than projections of premiums without the ACA:

We've seen that elsewhere over the past two months.

Premiums drop, coverage expands in Washington's exchange

And in California:

Notably cheaper than the price of comparable plans this year:

And in D.C..

And in Colorado.

And in Vermont.

In Oregon last month we saw headlines like Surprisingly low premium rates submitted for Oregon exchange:

Now it looks like they're actually about to get lower.

Oregon slashes 2014 individual health premiums as much as 35 percent

The doom-and-gloom has been a bit overdone.

 

These laughable lies will blanket mass media as midterms approach.....it will be deafening.

 

Even if it was not lies, think of all the billions spent to make the changes that negate a few dollars per month savings. The rules have already tightened on Medicare making it more difficult for us. That said, overall Obamacare will greatly increase costs with negligible improvement in coverage.

 

I thought this myth has already been debunked???

 

yeah, but the midterms are coming so the media is ramping up their Democrat campaign committees

 

Thanks for that. We know EXACTLY where you're coming from.

 

The only "lies" we see are the lies where Republicans compare the impending cost of Obamacare with some idiot's $50/month "health insurance" that excludes a laundry list of important coverages that are going to sock it to the taxpayer if this person ever has a REAL health problem, "policies" that consist mostly of false promises and worthless discount cards.

Yet these people think they have "health insurance".

 

Just so. They wanted to conscript the NFL in the pervasive agitprop. Instead we have an army of drones.

 

The heat is on. All the Gen Y facebook Obama drones are really POed thanks to the NSA. Snowden is nearly the new dashboard Jesus. And Obamalpractice is about to squeeze their nuts as they are forced to pay for the chronically ill.

Agitprop, Baby! It's all a Chitown ward heeler can do.

 

Great, I want my free Obama phone too

 

Wow, it seems there really ARE benefits to the consumer when the producers must undergo real competition. Who would have dreamed that competition would reduce prices and improve products? It MUST be lies.

 

Me: But all I want is a beater Toyota...just a cheap clunker.

Obama: You must buy a new Mercedes.

Me: But it's a lot more money.

Obama: But it's a MUCH nicer car. You'll really like it.

Me: How about you just GTF out of my life?

Obama: Nope. Time for your audit.

 

What usually happens is a reduction in certain service and medications being covered, a reduction in the share the insurer pays.

It's always the same, they introduce the measure with low, low premiums and on the surface it appears to be the same level of coverage, but, you get a stubborn condition and need an expensive med, you discover that you have to pay $$$ or suffer. That one medication's cost could be a hundred times the savings in premiums.

We've had universal medical in Canada since 1967, we know all their tricks. and it gets really ugly sometimes, not life threatening, but ugly...like a 66 year old lady friend who has a gastro-intestinal issue...the one med they cover does not work so, she either pays $220 a month or goes through life unexpectedly farting and burping.....

Like I say, nothing that's ever gonna get a headline, but ugly.....butt ugly.

And it's classic "positioning" for them to trickle out "news' about premiums being 'lower than expected"....

As a reporter I always loved it when the pols and the bureaucrats said (*)(*)(*)(*) like that...what was expected? If the past is any indication they helped feed paranoia about increased premiums to get you anxious and afraid, worrying about a 300% increase, so when it come it 30% more for half as much you are so very, very grateful to the Great and Powerful Ozobama that you not only fall on your face in worship, but contribute to his campaign...

...never asking the question of why, since he really can't run for anything anymore, he needs a political war chest.

 

...and the consumers consume at the point of a gun.

 

OK, tell you what. I will enjoy choosing the best coverage for the best price from genuine competitors, and you can suffer the slings and arrows of being coerced to do the same thing. ONE of us will be happy.

 

It's not lies.

Every word of that piece is true. I don't have to read it to aver that for an absolute fact.

But, if you read my previous post you will see why you should have taken that course on interpreting statistics.

Man, I would love to be a politician in the US.....Lincoln was dead wrong [sorry for the pun] but you CAN fool all of the people all of the time...


Competition!

 

Stalin and Mao used similar logic just a different ratio.

 

Spare me your hypocrisy dog.

Did you forget I was here and that I know your little secret, that you yourself have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in government paid for medical care?

 

This strikes me as something that may be corrected without some expensive medication, anyway, like via some kind of pro-biotic diet or whatever. I don't know what besides an issue with the bugs living in a person's gut could lead to a problem like you're describing.

 

I laughed out loud at that too.

 

Oh come on. There's no gun involved....just a bankrupting IRS audit and possible renditioning...

The Great and Powerful Ozobma has a kind and gentle machine gun hand, he has all our bests interests at heart at all times.......

 

Probably because you're not a medical practitioner.

How about cataracts? Do you understand them? Well it works this way. The surgery is covered. no problem. But you need at least 3 eye drop medications costing $300 ...they are not anymore.

get it now? Simple apples and oranges all the while claiming you're getting a better deal.

Of, what' the use...try some reality TV....you'll probably understand that

 

Settle down. I'm not here to defend OhBummer Care. I was only commenting on that particular condition, as it sounds like it might be a case for what we might call alternative medicine.

I have no great hopes for OhBummer Care. I expect it will only further increase costs and reduce quality of care.

 

I guess it depends on who you believe.

The Democrats have had 3 years and 7 months to get the exchanges set up, only a handful are even anywhere near being ready to go by Oct 1st. The train wreck begins then. Democrats have absolutely no idea what kind of blowback they are going to get in the mid-term when the health care they didn't want in the first place gets "messy" starting in Jan 2014. The current system could have been fixed and everyone knows it. The Democrat losses in Congress will resemble 2010 when they got hammered for passing it in the first place.....only worse. After 4 years+ of Obamanomics I doubt they will be in much of a forgiving mood.

 

if you are a person who buys your health insurance on an independent plan,,mainly self employed people..obama care will raise your rates a lot for the same plan...mine was 978.00 per month for two people with dental plan..come jan 2014 it jumps up to 2114.00 a month for the same plan..