How's Obamacare going in New York? Our first hint is in

[hrmjustin]

James T. Mulder

Syracuse, N.Y. - New Yorkers have one of their first indications of how Obamacare is going.

Companies providing health insurance through the new state exchange have filed rate requests for next year. Those requests, based on less than six months of experience selling the new standardized Obamacare products, tell us:

-Some insurers, who used educated guesswork to set rates for the new coverage, initially underpriced themselves. For 2015, rate increase requests for individual and small group coverage in the Syracuse area range from 2 percent to 20 percent. State regulators could cut those.
-Even with increases, the rates offered on the state exchange will still be significantly less than average prices for individual coverage before Obamacare, when New York had some of the highest rates in the country.
-The population of new enrollees in Obamacare is older than expected and have higher medical costs. About 66 percent of people who have enrolled in private Obamacare plans in New York are 35 or older.
-Most insurers plan to stay in the business. Of the five insurers selling Obamacare in Central New York, only one is dropping out of the exchange next year. That plan, Today's Options, enrolled fewer than 100 people.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/obamacare.html#incart_m-rpt-2

[hrmjustin]

1. What Gruber meant about health exchanges

Dan Goldberg

Beginning on Friday and continuing through the weekend, the health care world turned its attention to Jonathan Gruber and a 2012 video of remarks he made about the Affordable Care Act, which he helped craft.

Gruber, also instrumental in creating Romneycare—which he famously told this website was effectively the same program as Obamacare—made a statement that indicates Congress intended health insurance subsidies only for state-run exchanges, not for those individuals who signed up through healthcare.gov, the federal website that manages exchanges for 36 states.

“I think what’s important to remember politically about this, is if you’re a state and you don’t set up an exchange, that means your citizens don’t get their tax credits,” he said.

This is important in light of the recent conflicting appellate court decisions, which focused on whether it was legal for the I.R.S. to allow advanced premium tax credits (a form of subsidy) for the millions who purchased insurance through the federal government's exchange.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/health-care/2014/07/8549718/what-gruber-meant-about-health-exchanges