HHS has released an analysis of plans selected by enrollees through the federal health insurance exchange, including premiums and subsidies.
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A number of positive news stories have been published recently regarding the increased participation by employers in the public health insurance exchanges for 2015. As usual, caution is warranted.
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Willis, the large insurance broker, has released a survey of employers relating to health reform.
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If you think that supposedly neutral information sites are in fact neutral, just look at this headline from the respectable Kaiser news site, which tries to put a positive spin on premium increase proposals for 2015 exchange rates, by saying they are less than 10% in California and only 8.25%, less than the rate of increase before reform, in Washington state. Simply absurd to try to minimize the effects of these increases which are three times the rate of inflation or GDP growth and remember that the Administration promised us reform would lower premiums.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2014/June/13/premium-costs.aspx?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=13177961&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_tAV77bWQ6LRmguzefvkyb3Tw1DkC_Y0tIq8fCTQhrmDe8mK3DbqY9C2e2t-Lz1aAxeDB4XDyRmK2m5fYy34d6b_9ZzQ&_hsmi=13177961The Congressional Budget Office has updated its estimates of how many people will pay the penalty for failing to have health insurance, finding that of the 30 million uninsured in 2016 only about 7 million will have to pay a penalty and two-thirds of those are lower income individuals. The amounts collected are also projected to be lower than previously estimated.
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/45397-IndividualMandate.pdfAccording to a survey, one third of Americans say that the health reform law implementation will cause them to delay retirement because of higher health care costs.
http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2014/06/03/one-third-of-americans-say-obamacare-will-delay-re?eNL=538e3a92160ba062578b45cc&utm_source=LifeHealthProNewsFlash&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=LifeHealthPro_eNLs&_LID=97699543A brief from the Urban Institute argues that the employer mandate in the reform law could be eliminated without causing much impact on employment related coverage. Might be the initial attempt at cover for the Administration to remove the mandate.
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/413117-Why-Not-Just-Eliminate-the-Employer-Mandate.pdfCigna has said that its first wave of enrollees from the public insurance exchanges have higher health care costs than anticipated. Other insurers have indicated they think they anticipated costs and priced right, but we will see.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cigna-profit-beats-expectations-helped-104523459.htmlIn the first quarter of 2014, health care spending jumped by an alarming 9.9%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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The Congressional Budget Office has issued revised projections on the cost and other impacts of the health reform law.
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A survey and report from Rand gives estimates on who has recently enrolled in what forms of health insurance, which suggests that most of the new enrollment is actually due…
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