[quote=livinincali][quote=SK in CV]
Unlikely to happen. Under the ACA, insurance companies have no incentive to get costs under control, except to remain competitive with other insurance companies. There are no limits as to what they can charge, so long as they use the statutory percentage for health care.
There are no new sudden cost increases under the ACA. There is a continuation of cost increases that dates back decades. And that includes both costs of medical care and premium costs. There were safeguards in place under the original law, to allow small insurance co-ops to succeed during the first few years, in case of catastrophic losses. Those safeguards were removed, guaranteeing failure of some of these coops. But the large insurance companies are doing just fine in most states. In states they’re not doing fine, they’ll figure it out. Their business is medical insurance. They’re unlikely to abandon controlled markets for their products.[/quote]
Of course there are costs increases under the ACA. Having to insure people with pre-existing conditions and having to create plans that insure things beyond what their previous plans insured both increased costs. There were a variety of people that were forced to change their health insurance plan because it did not meet the requirements specified in the law. For many of those people health insurance became more expensive rather than less expensive. I’m sure BG can write a novel about it.
In addition they cannot just raise premiums to whatever they want. They have to get approval from regulatory bodies. Even if they could raise the prices to whatever they’d like eventually it becomes too expensive and healthy people stop signing up. Why is United Health considering leaving the exchanges if everything is fine and they’ll just figure it out. I think they are figuring it out. It might be more profitable to stick to corporate health plans and ditch offering plans on the exchanges.
When Obama said that you don’t have to change your insurance if you don’t want to, he was 100% correct. He just should have added the caveat that if your insurance company changes their policy, it will have to conform to the new law. Every existing policy in force when the law was passed could have remained, and allowed. The insurance companies, elected, voluntarily, to change every one of their policies. That increased costs.
The law was passed 6 years ago tomorrow. There have been no changes since that time that would create sudden increases in costs. In the first 5 years of the laws existence, premiums went up at the slowest rate in decades. Health care spending went up at the slowest rate in decades.
Insurance companies can increase their rates any way they want, so long as they can prove that the rates are justifiable under the law. The law allows for an MLR of 80% for individual plans and 85% for group plans.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got refunds every single year, either directly or through my employer, since that part of the law went into effect. Which means that the premiums charged created a MLR of less than the limit.
United health hasn’t left yet. And if they do, competitors will replace them. Insurance is extremely profitable business. If Blue Cross and Aetna can make money, then United Health can.
