Obamacare Website Won’t Reveal Insurance Costs – Until After Election

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obamacare1Those planning to purchase health insurance on the Obamacare exchange will soon find out how much rates have increased – after the Nov. 4 election.

Enrollment on the Healthcare.gov website begins Nov. 15, or 11 days after the midterm vote, and critics who worry about rising premium hikes in 2015 say that’s no coincidence. Last year’s inaugural enrollment period on the health-care exchange began Oct. 1.

“This is more than just a glitch,” said Tim Phillips, president of free-market Americans for Prosperity, in a Friday statement. “The administration’s decision to withhold the costs of this law until after Election Day is just more proof that Obamacare is a bad deal for Americans.”

Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, said in a Monday column in USA Today that “when it comes to a lack of openness and transparency about Obamacare, this administration has no peer.”

Even so, details about cost increases are trickling out in states with pivotal Senate contests: Alaska, Iowa and Louisiana. All three states are wrestling with double-digit premium hikes from some state insurance companies on the exchange, which has fueled another round of Republican attacks on the Affordable Care Act.

It’s the Democrats’ bad luck that those states may be outliers. PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute reports Oct. 3 that the average premium increase this year is 5.9 percent, according to data collected from 40 states and the District of Columbia.

The most dramatic increases are underway in Alaska, where the state insurance division has cleared double-digit rate hikes for two insurers, Premera Blue Cross and Moda Health. Premera’s premiums will rise by 35 to 40 percent, although 88 percent of Alaskans on the exchange won’t feel the full effects because they qualify for federal subsidies, according to the Alaska Dispatch News.

Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan, who’s challenging Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, blasted the rate increases on his Facebook page.

“Did you lose your coverage due to ObamaCare? Are your premiums set to skyrocket? Follow the link to share your ObamaCare story and stand up to the elected leaders in D.C. who sold Alaskans out,” said Mr. Sullivan in the Sept. 12 post.

Read more: The Washington Times

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2 COMMENTS

  1. I attended an epidemiology conference in Alaska this summer. The state has some big challenges in health care delivery essentially everywhere outside of Anchorage because of the unusually sparse population and the poor conditions of the native communities. And the state government doesn’t do much — they don’t even have a system for tracking how much asthma is in the state, despite the fact that the climate and demographics contribute to it being a big burden. The surprise is that the costs aren’t increasing even more.

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