For some time many of us have been warning that the Trump and Republican Affordable Care Sabotage would cause massive increases in the insurance rates. Well, that time is now and millions will be priced out of the health insurance market. Here is why.
CNN reported the following.
Obamacare premiums could jump by double digits again next year. Insurers in several states have requested large rate hikes for 2019, with many pointing to steps taken by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress as the main reasons why. New York insurers want to hike rates by 24%, on average, while carriers in Washington are looking for a 19% average premium increase. In Maryland, CareFirst is asking for an average 18.5% rate bump for its HMO plans and a 91% spike for its PPO policies (which have far fewer enrollees), while Kaiser Permanente wants to boost premiums by more than 37%, on average.
Many insurers cite two key drivers of the increases: Congress’ elimination of the penalty for the individual mandate — which requires nearly all Americans to have coverage or pay up –and the Trump administration’s expected expansion of two types of health plans that don’t have to adhere to Obamacare’s regulations.
Jettisoning the individual mandate penalty is expected to cause premiums to rise by about 10%, the industry group said, citing reports by the Congressional Budget Office and independent actuaries. That’s because younger and healthier people will be more likely to forgo insurance since they will no longer have to pay a penalty. Insurers fear they will then be left with sicker and older policyholders, prompting them to request higher rates to cover the anticipated increase in claims.</p
Also, Trump last year issued an executive order directing federal agencies to make it easier to buy two alternatives to Affordable Care Act plans. One would allow small businesses to band together to buy coverage through association health plans, while the other would let Americans buy short-term coverage that would last less than a year, rather than the current 90-day limit. Both of these types of policies are expected to have lower premiums, but would cover fewer benefits — making them more attractive to healthier Americans who don’t need comprehensive coverage.
Americans must be ready to repeat the following facts.
According to Protect Our Care,
After a new Gallup poll showed that America’s uninsured rate jumped during Trump’s first year in office for the first time in a decade, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:
“This is what sabotage looks like. Today, Gallup confirmed that over 3 million Americans lost their insurance in 2017, becoming the first casualties of President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ war on health care. Today’s numbers also confirm that it’s exactly those Americans who the Trump administration targeted who are losing coverage: working families earning less than $36,000 a year, young adults, African-Americans, and Hispanics. On behalf of the 3 million who have already lost their coverage, and will now pay the price with their health — and the millions more whose insurance is under attack, we join the American people in saying: enough is enough. President Trump and his allies in Congress must stop their partisan war on health care before they take coverage from millions more and and drive up prices and weaken protections for everyone else.”
But it is worse than that. According to a recent editorial in the Washington Post, Trump is about to destroy Americans’ health care by loosening regulations further.
The drum beats of the impending blue wave are getting louder. So much so that even the traditional mainstream media are starting to quantify the lead-up. But Democrats must not get ahead of themselves. They must do this. Please share.SINCE THE big Obamacare repeal-and-replace bills failed in the Senate, Congress and President Trump have sought to undermine the law in subtler ways. First, Republican lawmakers repealed Obamacare’s individual mandate, a key element of the law’s design. Now the Trump administration is rolling out rules that threaten to damage the structure further.
The Labor Department this month proposed looser regulations on so-called association health plans, under which small businesses, professional associations and others in similar circumstances can band together and buy insurance coverage for their groups as though they were large employers.
In fact, there is a potentially large downside. The rules would also excuse association health plans from covering 10 classes of essential health benefits. Plans would probably be cheaper, but they would likely cover less than the comprehensive ones Obamacare sought to make the national standard. It is likely that some people who buy these plans will develop significant health problems and find themselves disastrously under-covered. Some may be willing to take that risk. The bigger problem is that opening a new avenue to buying shoddier insurance may harm everyone else seeking affordable, comprehensive coverage when they cannot get it from a large employer.
Democrats and Progressives cannot sit back. They must go on the offensive no by truthfully calling out Trump and the GOP ACA Sabotage as well as the role the tax cut scam has played in causing Americans economic pain.