Like many conservatives and liberty-minded Americans have long assumed, President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA), widely known as Obamacare, is truly not affordable. According to a report by the House of Representative’s Energy and Commerce Committee, insurance rates will grow an average of 100 percent to as much as 400 percent.
The report requested rate information from 17 insurance companies including heavyweights like Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Kaiser Foundation.
A North Carolina family saw their BCBS insurance deductible increase to $1500 per person for each (7) family members last month. The father told Benswann.com, “we simply cannot afford this. We are now forced to sell our home because we cannot afford this increase.”
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina released its own report, alerting customers of rate changes. After new federal subsidies and grandfathered plans are factored in, the company expects about two-thirds of its individual market customers to see rate increases similar to those of recent years or decreases in 2014. The remaining one-third of individual market customers will see larger increases because of the Affordable Care Act. These rate changes come because several of the Affordable Care Act’s new requirements will be implemented Jan. 1, 2014.
“Beginning next year, individuals who buy their own health insurance will feel a wide variety of impacts as new components of the ACA take full effect,” said Patrick Getzen, BCBSNC vice president and chief actuary. “The ACA expands access to coverage and increases benefits. This is a good goal, but it comes with a cost. Subsidies will offset the higher cost of premiums for some of our customers, but more sick people in the insurance pool, more benefits, and new taxes and fees will drive rates up.”
Full article: http://benswann.com/ … -spike-a-high-fever/
