Trump rule changes expected to raise Obamacare health-insurance premiums

[Greenbeard]

Lost in the shutdown news last week was the Trump administration's latest move to save the government a few bucks by raising costs for premium-payers. Granted, it's relatively small potatoes compared to the nearly 40% average premium hike the Trump administration forced unnecessarily in 2018. But the result of this new artificial cost hike, Trump's HHS projects, is 100,000 people losing their insurance.

Trump rule changes expected to raise Obamacare health-insurance premiums

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday announced proposed rule changes that would lead to a modest premium increase next year under the Affordable Care Act, potentially handing Democrats a new presidential-year health-care issue.

The roughly 1% increase could feed into the Democratic argument that the Trump administration is trying to “sabotage” coverage for millions. The administration said the proposal is intended to improve the accuracy of a complex formula that affects what consumers pay for their premiums.

Premiums under the health law were basically stable this year after several sharp annual hikes. President Donald Trump, who once predicted “Obamacare” would “implode” or “explode,” took credit for calm insurance markets. He said it reflects his administration’s management skills. In his first year in office, Trump tried unsuccessfully to repeal the health law and then rescinded a major insurer subsidy, triggering a wave of premium increases.

A prominent Democrat criticized the administration’s move on premiums.

“Today’s proposed rule deliberately and needlessly increases premiums and will result in too many Americans losing access to health coverage,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said in a statement. “The Trump administration continues to fan the flames of uncertainty while families pick up the check.”

In the regulation, the administration estimated that the government would save about $900 million a year on subsidies, and that 100,000 consumers would drop their coverage.

At this point we should be devoting more funds to the premium tax credits, not less, as they've so far cost a lot less to date than was projected.

 

[OrphanSlug]

“Make America Great Again” my ass... his campaign slogan should have been “Why? Cause ****’em, that’s why.”

This is one of those moves that is all about upsetting people, nothing more nothing less.

 

[samhughes]

Trump's Administration is raising premiums in order in an effort to disguise the truth and blame the Obama Administration for an unworkable Affordable Health Care Act. The fact is Trump creates these issues and blames others for his incompetence.

 

[ludin]

I never saw the OP blaming obama when peoples premiums jump 400% or more when obamacare was enacted.
I never saw him blame obama when peoples healthcare premiums have gone up 20-40% a year since it was enacted.

so this is just dismissed as political hackery

 

[Greenbeard]

“Make America Great Again” my ass... his campaign slogan should have been “Why? Cause ****’em, that’s why.”

This is one of those moves that is all about upsetting people, nothing more nothing less.

Surprisingly, putting Twitter trolls in charge of policymaking turns out to have been a bad idea.

 

[Fenton]

Trump's Administration is raising premiums in order in an effort to disguise the truth and blame the Obama Administration for an unworkable Affordable Health Care Act. The fact is Trump creates these issues and blames others for his incompetence.

Wut ?
2016: Obama administration confirms double digit rate increases for 2017
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.la...miums-20161024-snap-story.html?outputType=amp

Premiums and deductables skyrocketed ling before Trump inauguration.

 

[Greenbeard]

2016: Obama administration confirms double digit rate increases for 2017

The story of premiums in the exchanges isn't that complicated.

2009	The CBO estimates what premiums in the exchanges will be once they open later in the decade. Those projected premiums are used to estimate the price tag of the Affordable Care Act before it passes.
2014	The exchanges open. Premiums are about 15 percent below projections, pulling down the price tag of the law.
2015	Competition is robust and new insurers enter the exchanges. The average benchmark premium rises only 2 percent. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans begin to sabotage the finances of the exchanges and defund the non-profit coops insurers seeded to inject new competition into markets, while state-level GOP leaders work to depress enrollment.
2016	Insurer participation remains fairly stable and the average benchmark premium rises 7 percent. However, while there is variation in plan financial performance, many market participants have been running negative margins on exchange business for the first two years, primarily reflecting the impact of (1) the deliberate sabotage of the ACA's temporary risk mitigation components, and (2) initial underpricing of products (premiums at this point are still substantially below projections).
2017	The "one-time pricing correction" predicted by S&P as a response to the initial underpricing of premiums materializes. The average benchmark premium rises about 25%. Analyses later in the year from S&P and KFF show that plan financial performance had actually begun to reverse, hitting profitability, in 2016 and continued to improve through 2017. Without policy interference, most observers expect that 2018 would see premium stability or, to the extent the 2017 bump was an overcorrection, outright decreases. However, in the spring the Trump administration threatens to end cost-sharing reduction payments in 2018 (ultimately announcing later in the year its final decision to do so) and end the individual mandate. Insurers around the country respond by planning large premium hikes for 2018 instead of the stable premiums expected in the absence of Trump's actions.
2018	Due primarily to Trump administration policies, instead of remaining flat the average benchmark premium rises 37%, the largest annual increase in the exchanges to date.
2019	Following several states instituting (1) state-level individual mandates, or (2) state-level reinsurance programs to reduce premiums, and in response to the 37% hike in 2018 being higher than necessary to accommodate the Trump's administration's disruption, insurers are compelled by the ACA's MLR requirements and the market dynamics of the exchanges to return some of the excess to the consumer. Average premiums fall 2%. They remain well above where they should have been even in 2018 had Trump never taken office.​

 

[Fenton]

The story of premiums in the exchanges isn't that complicated.

2009	The CBO estimates what premiums in the exchanges will be once they open later in the decade. Those projected premiums are used to estimate the price tag of the Affordable Care Act before it passes.
2014	The exchanges open. Premiums are about 15 percent below projections, pulling down the price tag of the law.
2015	Competition is robust and new insurers enter the exchanges. The average benchmark premium rises only 2 percent. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans begin to sabotage the finances of the exchanges and defund the non-profit coops insurers seeded to inject new competition into markets, while state-level GOP leaders work to depress enrollment.
2016	Insurer participation remains fairly stable and the average benchmark premium rises 7 percent. However, while there is variation in plan financial performance, many market participants have been running negative margins on exchange business for the first two years, primarily reflecting the impact of (1) the deliberate sabotage of the ACA's temporary risk mitigation components, and (2) initial underpricing of products (premiums at this point are still substantially below projections).
2017	The "one-time pricing correction" predicted by S&P as a response to the initial underpricing of premiums materializes. The average benchmark premium rises about 25%. Analyses later in the year from S&P and KFF show that plan financial performance had actually begun to reverse, hitting profitability, in 2016 and continued to improve through 2017. Without policy interference, most observers expect that 2018 would see premium stability or, to the extent the 2017 bump was an overcorrection, outright decreases. However, in the spring the Trump administration threatens to end cost-sharing reduction payments in 2018 (ultimately announcing later in the year its final decision to do so) and end the individual mandate. Insurers around the country respond by planning large premium hikes for 2018 instead of the stable premiums expected in the absence of Trump's actions.

According to the GAO, the risk corridors were always well funded because the Obama administration illegally diverted billions to insurer's. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fo...rs-under-affordable-care-act-are-illegal/amp/ So the risk corridors were well funded when the Obama administration announced double digit rate hikes for 2017 but the Democrats continued to blame Republicans and now they're blaming Trump Just goes to show the Democrats will stop at nothing to cover their asses politically including lying to middle class Americans who were and continue to be disproportionately impacted by cost increases. What an insidious group of low life's

 

[Greenbeard]

According to the GAO, the risk corridors were always well funded because the Obama administration illegally diverted billions to insurer's.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fo...rs-under-affordable-care-act-are-illegal/amp/

Risk corridors literally aren't referenced even once in that article.