Health care providers could raise premiums by as much as 9 percent this year to pay for benefits associated with U.S. President Barack Obama’s socialized medicine law, according to a report published earlier this week by The Wall Street Journal.
Who’s going to get hit with the higher bills?
“The rate increases largely apply to policies for individuals and small businesses and don’t include people covered by a big employer or Medicare,” the Journal story notes.
Combined, those groups represent about 30 percent of the nation’s insured population.
Once again … small businesses are taking it squarely up the ass, a sensation they’ll experience once again when they’re hit with the tax increases required to pay for this abomination.
And once small businesses can no longer afford to provide coverage, individual Americans will either have to purchase it themselves or get hit with a fine of up to 2.5 percent of their annual income.
What a country, right?
In addition to the “Obamacare”-related increases, several insurers are also raising premiums based on … wait for it … “rising medical costs,” increases which Obama promised would come to an end under his “government knows best” approach to medicine. Factoring in these increases, millions of individuals and thousands of small businesses are facing total rate increases as high as 20 percent in some states.
Last week, a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that health care costs went up in America this year – and were likely to increase further in the years to come.
Meanwhile, another report found that millions of American seniors were being booted from their prescription drug plans – another violation of Obama’s many health care promises.
By langdon September 9, 2010 at 11:06 am
Obama has been caught in yet another lie.
No wonder he sounds so bitter and angry these days.
By James September 9, 2010 at 12:18 pm
This should be a surprise to no one. The plan was gutted of anything that would have benefited small business. What Americans wanted was lower insurance premiums and an end to being uninsurable because of preexisting conditions. They got the second part, which will benefit a lot of people; but the first part was taken out of the plan by Congress.
Only one thing will lower insurance premiums. Competition, and that was taken off the table by Congress under pressure from the insurance lobby.
The plan that passed was not socialized medicine. I fail to understand why you continue to refer to it as such. Only congress, state legislators, government employees and senior citizens have access to socialized medicine; and they fully partake. What may very well have benefited both Small Business and Medicare would have been to open Medicare to everyone, and let people choose between Medicare and private insurance.
That way Small Business could do what it needs to do to be competitive. Stop paying for health care for its employees. We cannot compete with companies from countries that provide medical care for their citizens. It is a huge subsidy to their businesses. This would also benefit Medicare in that it would bring young healthy low cost people into Medicare making it more solvent, and would increase competition for insurance companies forcing them to lower premiums to compete.
As it is congress expanded coverage, but failed to pass anything to reduce costs, this plan turned out to be an insurance companies dream. Mandated coverage and no cap on premiums
By Politics Rocks September 9, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Newsflash …. mine went up 9% lsat year …. this is nothing new
By Skidmarks September 9, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Oh, bullshit, the rate increase is caused by the health care reform act. Note that the increases don’t include those covered by Medicare. Proof that we need to expand the health care reform act to include an all inclusive public option.
By Billy Bob September 9, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Not since Hitler has anybody used such half-truths to spin a riotous story as you Fits.
By Audrey September 9, 2010 at 12:33 pm
For those of us who are self-employed, unemployed, under-employed, or who work for companies that offer de minimus medical insurance, I ask, “How are the doctors and insurance companies doing?”
I completely support Obama’s health care plan and can’t wait to be able to afford some modicum of real protection from catastrophic illness.
The vast majority of Americans — what the extreme right wing (i.e., the core of the Republican party now) would call “the great unwashed” are in this category.
Thank you, Mr. Obama, for comprehensive health care, after 40 years of congressional stalemate.
By fitsnews September 9, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Billy Bob,
We’re “Hitler” because we quoted from a Wall Street Journal article?
-FITS
By eggaday September 9, 2010 at 12:51 pm
doctors are doing quite well, thanks for asking.
insurance companies are raking in even bigger profits.
now hospitals… well, we might have to close a few, because they cost so so much.
put USC School of Medicine right out front and close it down. it’s a tremendous waste of money to move half the school to Greenville. upstate people don’t want shoddy half *ssed care like the USC School of Medicine provides.
meanwhile, premiums, well, they must rise so that the doctors can eat cake along with the insurers!
By Noname September 9, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Obama has nothing to do with this…..it is all Teddy(Nancy) taking some direction from Mitt….taking direction from the powerful cabal of (1) companys that want this now out of control cost off the balance sheet
(2) industry players ….over luxurious hospitals….god like Doctors…..Insurance Capital players seeing long term losses
(3) Hilary and the statists that saw it as an opertune power grab and continuation of the entitled voter play that both parties rely on to keep them in office.
Barry…..well he is just an inexperienced half negro politician from Chicago that filled white Americas desire to try and put its raciest unease behind it by saying that we are not afraid to have a non-white as President. Oh and he has an ability to give a decent speech…… sometimes ….and he looks real good against an old white military guy with a severe intellectual tick.
Now ….well the half negro is just in over his head….being rolled by almost everyone who flocked to his campaign with a variety of agendas.
Does he even know what Timmy is doing to insure Wall Street and the big banks have no competition in the future. Bound to be lucrative fees for a one term President like Barry.
And the Obama Team exit is really on now….if you think he was ineffectual with his first team….wait until you see the shit that flows from the opportunistic statist fucks who wait in DC for just such an event like this to jump in and really fuck up.
ABC’s News president is out ….more to come at CBS and NBC as they wake up to the understanding of owning this weak ass for two more years.
Chris\Ed\Keith and Rachael are all vibrating with angst as to what to do when they are unemployed. Brian Roberts owes those 4 nothing.
By ArtVandelay September 9, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that this site is going after obama and not the insurance companies who ***GASP**** actually raised the rates. Amazing.
A simple google search would provide you with the financial strength of these poor insurance companies so squeezed by obamacare they must raise prices
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/industries/223/index.html
Surely you notice the top 7 are in the fortune 500, should I go into the pay of their executives, their profit margins, their stock dividend paybacks, or are you getting the point?
These rate increases have about as much to do with health reform and “rising healthcare costs” as Folks has to do with the sky being blue. Did you miss the fact most of this legislation (the most costly pieces mind you) won’t be put in place until 2014…Yet you take these people at their word.
By not too smart September 9, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Well said James. I expect the folks at Fox News to refer to the health care plan as “socialized medicine” because they just spin repub talking points. I expected better from FITS. This is not socialized medicine, this is about fairness. Sure it could be better, but this small business owner is happy the law passed so he can buy health insurance for his family, even if I have to pay a little more. Look at the rates for “group” plans – versus private plans, you know, the ones that small business owners have to buy. Group rates are much higher, why, because the insurance company has to insure everyone and can’t deny for pre-existing conditions. Rates were expected to rise on private plans, and for full coverage, that is not a bad thing.
By Plaxico September 9, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Well said? You agree with James???
By hal September 9, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Hospitals aren’t being paid by patients.
Hospital profits are down.
Physician salaries are down.
Insurance profits are down.
I dunno about the trial lawyer, though.
Ask John Edwards.
By Silence Dogood September 10, 2010 at 9:33 am
FITS – I don’t support everything in Obamacare – it was a tremendously large bill. However, my healthcare insurance premiums went up 9.5% and almost 13% respectively over the past two years due to ‘rising medical cost’ apparently. I am a healthy person with little to worry about (medically), but this news really doesn’t make me think different of Obamacare. Furthermore, the WSJ article, like most of the posters here, seem to give their opininos based on “gut feelings.” Maybe we can see what happens next year before we take everyone’s word for it as a fact because that’s how they ‘feel.’
Hell, it is not too unlikely that Republicans could take over in large enough numbers to gut Obamacare by half in 2011.
Guess what though, premiums will continue to rise like they have over the past few years ANYWAY.
By Prince Poppycock September 10, 2010 at 10:25 am
James darling………insurance will not cover that robo rabbit if you break it. Please lube when required………I hate to think you are wearing out the bearings.