Health insurers sell cheap policies and then jack the rates

[eridani]

In Colorado, Disparity in Health Plan Prices Underscores Ambitions, and Limits, of Affordable Care Act

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/business/in-year-2-of-affordable-care-act-premiums-diverge-widely.html?ref=policy

An analysis by The New York Times shows that the cost of one midlevel silver plan in Colorado rose 36 percent west of the Rocky Mountains this year, while another dropped nearly 40 percent in the northeastern plains.

The law was intended to drive prices lower and broaden coverage through competition. While 10 insurers offer plans to individuals in Colorado through the state’s online marketplace, the law does not require insurers to offer all plans in all regions of a state.

The wild disparity in prices results from many insurers trying to attract more customers by pricing plans as low as they can. But it is not at all clear that the low prices will be sustainable, so prices may well swing sharply upward as time goes on.

The variations in premium prices are also a direct result of what the insurer-friendly health care law permits. Insurers can target territories, choosing areas within a given market where they can attract enough members and put together provider networks that will negotiate on price. In addition, insurers were given some protection by the federal government to reduce possible losses in the early years, so some are experimenting with very low prices that may not be sustainable over the long term.

And no one expects premium costs to stabilize anytime soon. Because buyers are so sensitive to price, the markets may experience cycles in which insurers alternately offer low premiums to attract customers and sharply raise them in later years to cover costs, experts said.

Comment by Don McCanne of PNHP: Although medical underwriting for preexisting disorders supposedly has been eliminated, the insurers apparently are still taking advantage of the “underwriting cycle” - capturing the market by selling plans at a loss and then jacking up rates after the competition has been thinned out. This volatility results in uncertainties for patients in both their insurance costs and in the composition of the networks of covered providers.

And under single payer? Costs would be stable and fair since they are based on ability to pay, and provider choice would be assured. So do we leave the system under the control of the cutthroat insurers, or do we finally place our own public stewards in charge?

[unrepentant progress]

1. I hear they're hiring former Comcast execs to design their health plans. ;-)

[Skittles]

2. gee, who could have seen THAT coming?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. They have been doing this to employers for years.

One company I worked for changed plans, it seemed like, every year. The CFO told me the insurance companies lowball you to get you and then hope you don't want the hassle of changing.

Yep. Just like cable tv plans.

[Recursion]

6. In 18 years I haven't had one insurer from one year to the next

And 12 of those years were through an employer. I think this is just something insurers do.

[BrotherIvan]

4. Our silver plan went up 40%

Yay!

[pnwmom]

5. I know very few Democrats who thought this was the best plan that could have been designed.

Just that it was the most progressive plan that could be passed in Congress after Ted Kennedy died.

Do you have any evidence that Congress would be more likely to pass single payer now? If so, I'm all for it.

[stillwaiting]

7. We have to keep talking about it and talking about it and talking about it...

If we don't build awareness and build support for single payer we'll never get it.

To do that we can't shut up and not talk about it simply because it won't pass this corrupt Congress.

It definitely won't pass this Congress, but we still need to keep talking about it. A lot.

[pnwmom]

12. I don't think that is necessarily true. If we don't give the current plan a fighting chance

and insist on talking and talking even when no one's listening, all we might be doing is building up more resistance among people in the middle -- who do exist, no matter what DUers think.

[stillwaiting]

13. We'll have to disagree then.

So many people STILL don't get how other countries' health care systems blow ours out of the water.

The only way that will change, in my opinion, is to continue to remind them.

Since the average American is tuned out and truly doesn't care or want to pay attention to politics that would necessitate bringing it up fairly often if we are ever going to get through the brainwashed haze.

What I'm saying is that NOT talking about ensure we never get it. Ever.

It seems we might disagree. That's okay.

[eridani]

15. ACA will save 26,000 lives a year

Among those who remain uninsured, the death toll will be 36,000 a year. Is that morally acceptable to you?

[pnwmom]

16. We agree that we should be moving forward and covering everybody. What we don't agree on

is exactly how to get there.

[Coventina]

8. This happened to several people I know. And the result was that the beginning belief that

government CAN work turned into, "I KNEW Obamacare was just a big scam!"

It doesn't matter how much you try to explain that it's private insurance.

Liberalism in general, and Obama specifically get the blame.

*sigh*

[alarimer]

9. Insurance companies are EVIL and not even a necessary evil at that.

They provide nothing, make no products. All they do is add cost and hassle to the system.

A public option would have helped this situation immensely but because Obama and the other Democrats are SPINELESS weasels. They do share some of the blame, but not in the way conservatives think. The cons think this proves that government needs to stay out of health care, when in fact it proves that INSURANCE COMPANIES are what is wrong with the systems. Democrats are guilty of not pointing this out enough, for wanting to "work within the system" rather than overhauling it completely.

Insurance companies jacking up the rates. Those of us screaming for the public options knew this would happen. Everyone knows someone who's been screwed by their insurance company.

[davidn3600]

10. They must have learned that tactic from the cable companies

[NCTraveler]

11. Hold on folks....

Insurance companies are in a stronger position than they were. They have been emboldened. BCBS was told that they are going to get many new customers and that the industry standards for profits should be higher than they were running in the years prior to the signage of the ACA.

[MisterP]

14. *gasp* the ACA might cost FORTY PERCENT less than estimated! *pops champange*