Did anybody really think that eliminating life-time payout caps, covering “adult-children”, and covering all pre-conditions would be free … or reduce total healthcare expenditures?
PS There’s no Easter Bunny, either …
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Health Insurers Plan Hikes Related to Health-Care Overhaul, Sept. 7, 2010
Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul.
Aetna, some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.
These and other insurers say Congress’s landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted.
Many carriers also are seeking additional rate increases that they say they need to cover rising medical costs. As a result, some consumers could face total premium increases of more than 20%.
Democrats front-loaded the legislation with early provisions they hoped would boost public support. Those include letting children stay on their parents’ insurance policies until age 26, eliminating co-payments for preventive care and barring insurers from denying policies to children with pre-existing conditions, plus the elimination of the coverage caps.
Insurance companies are telling state regulators it is those very provisions that are forcing them to increase their rates.
The industry contends its increases are justified.
“Anytime you add a benefit, there are increased costs,”
Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720004575478200948908976.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories
