WASHINGTON – A study by the RAND Corporation claims that in the overall health insurance marketplace, predicts that there will be no widespread health insurance premium increase.
RAND, a nonprofit institution with a mission to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis, said that some reports have suggested that the cost of individual health insurance policies and small group premiums may skyrocket under health reform.
However, a RAND analysis of ten states and of the United States overall predicts that there will be no widespread premium increase in either the individual or small group market.
According to RAND, the cost of individual policies will likely vary from state to state, depending on the age of individuals, whether they smoke, and whether they qualify for federal tax credits to defray the cost of insurance. “But our analysis found no widespread trend toward sharply higher prices in the individual market,” said Christine Eibner, an economist at RAND. Premiums for small groups, defined by the law as businesses with 100 or fewer full-time employees, are expected to remain largely unchanged as well.
Rand also reported that individual premiums in 2016 are likely to remain the same in the United States overall and in five of the ten states studied (Florida, Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas). Three states (Minnesota, North Dakota, and Ohio) could face premium increases of up to 43 percent, but those costs may be covered by federal tax credits. Louisiana and New Mexico may face premium declines. The differences stem largely from the proportion of a state’s residents who already have insurance. Minnesota, North Dakota, and Ohio all have low numbers of uninsured residents, meaning that fewer young, healthy people will be brought into the individual insurance markets in those states.
I suspect this report was crafted to put a happy face on Obamacare, otherwise it would have not seen the light of day.
It is interesting to note that in the three states that could see premium increases (↑ 43%) we are not to worry because these costs may be covered by federal tax credits. Just where do they think these credits come from – the Easter Bunny??
While they are still making the straight faced claim that premiums will not go up over all, they fail to mention much higher co-pays, deductibles, & prescription costs are in the offing.
At the end of the day, the overall out-of-pocket costs will go up markedly. We are being screwed again by Obama.
@4ever49-the problem with the tax credits is if you make around 40K those credits go down to almost nothing. If you qualify you probably don’t make enough money to file taxes anyway. So, it really only covers a few people. Not the big deal they make it out to be.
In 2016. Is there an increase from 2013 to 2014? My guess it’s huge? Smoking mirrors.