I live in CA, am 62, and my premiums have not budged these past two years. I adore my Obama care. Is there something MN should be doing differently?
My bet is that CA has stricter insurance regulations. For example, CA is one of few states with policies banning Transgender exclusions in both private insurance and Medicaid coverage.
Everyone nationally should watch Colorado’s Single Payer Health Care Law Program up for passage / voting in November, the first such state or federal bill in the USA. We still have the Citizens’ Initiative policy here in Colorado which allows citizens to offer bills for passage outside the state congress, a serious power against the 1% greed machine. However, not surprisingly, the right wing CO legislature is taking steps to get rid of this powerful democratic tool. Nevertheless, we still have time to pass single payer health care in Colorado which would make the rest of the states’ and feds’ politicians look exactly like what they are: greedy dishonest politicians. Europe has had single payer health coverage for all citizens, and even visitors / tourists, since the 1960s! And you can imagine how the horrible health care industry is fighting back with dishonesty and lies, as usual, in their advertising / actions.
My health insurance (employer-based) went up by $5/month this year, to $32/month including dental and eye care. First bump in 6 years. I wonder if the insurance companies are sticking it to individual purchasers so they can “show” how bad the ACA is, while leaving company plans mostly alone so the old system - which was “be rich, be on medicare/medicaid, or get it through your employer” - looks better by comparison.
An important aside: Bill Clinton did not say what you say he said, Mr.Potter. The quotation is correct; however, Clinton was not referring to the law but to a particular gap where people couldn’t qualify for subsidies but made too little to afford coverage. .
Today in our company break room there were a couple of new-hires - “millenials” I suppose - talking about their health insurance. One kid said, “well I’m very libertarian about these things, you know, keep government out of it, but a $15,000 deductible for a family is horrible, and then you have lifetime caps so if you get cancer they won’t pay for all of your treatment.”
Fucking ignorant people.
Well, it probably went up more than $5/mo if you count what your employer’s paying behind the scenes.
On the ACA side, it’s that sick people have been getting healthcare, often after years of deferring it. The insurance companies are making money hand-over-fist on their group plans, but they treat Exchange pools as isolated from their overall balance sheets.
All of this was expected to some degree, and if the House weren’t obsessed with stunt-passing repeals, then it would have been fixed by now.