NC Blue Cross says it could have slashed rates 22% if Republicans had not repealed Obamacare’s individual mandate

[phands]

Unbelievable.....

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina revealed this week that the company could have lowered health insurance rates up to 22 percent if Republicans in Congress had not repealed Obamacare’s individual mandate.

The North Carolina insurance company announced on Tuesday that it would be lowering rates for Affordable Care Act policies by an average of 4.1 percent, according to Spectrum News.

But the company also said that rates could have been lowered substantially more if President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress had not pushed through a tax cut that also eliminated the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which required taxpayers to either purchase insurance or pay a penalty.

“Blue Cross says it could have lowered average rates by another 18 percent if Congress and the Trump Administration hadn’t eliminated the penalty for people who don’t buy health [insurance],” Spectrum noted.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/nc...s-not-repealed-obamacares-individual-mandate/

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I think the bigger news is they announced they are lowering the ACA rates. Despite all of the Trump posturing and attempts to sabotage ACA, the rates are still going to be lowered. Curious if we see this trend across other states.

 

[Valjean]

Marco Rubio's attack on the ACA's risk corridors didn't help, either:
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...we-wiped-out-obamacare-bailout-fund-insuranc/

 

[Emily Lake]

Probably more affected by the removal of the cost share reduction subsidy than the removal of the mandate. Both would contribute, but the mandate alone wouldn't come anywhere near to the 18% difference.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Probably more affected by the removal of the cost share reduction subsidy than the removal of the mandate. Both would contribute, but the mandate alone wouldn't come anywhere near to the 18% difference.

The mandate carries a substantial unknown. Insurance companies hate unknowns.

 

[laughing dog]

Probably more affected by the removal of the cost share reduction subsidy than the removal of the mandate. Both would contribute, but the mandate alone wouldn't come anywhere near to the 18% difference.

Are you saying the NC Blue Cross does not know how it sets its rates?

 

[Copernicus]

I think the bigger news is they announced they are lowering the ACA rates. Despite all of the Trump posturing and attempts to sabotage ACA, the rates are still going to be lowered. Curious if we see this trend across other states.

No, that isn't bigger news. Trump and his Republican cohorts have been trying to find ways to destroy the ACA without being blamed for it. Hence, they have been continually weakening the law to the point where they hope it will collapse. Then they point at the rubble and invoke Obama's name. The bigger news here is that they have managed to sabotage the law enough to prevent it from delivering much greater cost savings to Americans. That the law still works at all may be surprising to you, but that is only because you expected Trump and Republicans to be more effective in undermining its benefits.

 

[Emily Lake]

Probably more affected by the removal of the cost share reduction subsidy than the removal of the mandate. Both would contribute, but the mandate alone wouldn't come anywhere near to the 18% difference.

The mandate carries a substantial unknown. Insurance companies hate unknowns.

ORLY?

 

[Emily Lake]

Probably more affected by the removal of the cost share reduction subsidy than the removal of the mandate. Both would contribute, but the mandate alone wouldn't come anywhere near to the 18% difference.

Are you saying the NC Blue Cross does not know how it sets its rates?

No. I'm saying that the person who wrote the linked article doesn't know how to read BCNC's press release.

Had the federal government not eliminated the individual mandate penalty, requested rates would be another 4 percent lower.
If federal Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments to insurers that were eliminated as of October 2017 were still in place, requested rates would be another 14 percent lower.

http://mediacenter.bcbsnc.com/news/blue-cross-nc-files-to-lower-aca-rates-by-average-of-4-1-percent

 

[laughing dog]

No. I'm saying that the person who wrote the linked article doesn't know how to read BCNC's press release.

Had the federal government not eliminated the individual mandate penalty, requested rates would be another 4 percent lower.
If federal Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments to insurers that were eliminated as of October 2017 were still in place, requested rates would be another 14 percent lower.

http://mediacenter.bcbsnc.com/news/blue-cross-nc-files-to-lower-aca-rates-by-average-of-4-1-percent

If X is the initial rate, then 4% less is (1-0.4)X. Another 14% reduction on top of the 4% gives us ((1 -0.04)X)(1-0.14) = (0.96)(0.86)X = 0.8256 or 17.44% reduction. Are you quibbling over a 0.56% difference?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So back to the ACA, despite willful sabotage, ACA rates still went down.

 

[Axulus]

So back to the ACA, despite willful sabotage, ACA rates still went down.

Depends on where you are at I guess. The company offering the lowest cost option in my area pulled out of the exchanges all together in 2018. The next cheapest option was something like 25% more expensive compared to the coverage I had in 2017.

 

[Copernicus]

So back to the ACA, despite willful sabotage, ACA rates still went down.

Which shows that the willful sabotage was successful enough to reduce the decrease in rates from a potential 22% to just 4%. The fact that the rates went down only slightly is a big win for those trying to sabotage the ACA.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So back to the ACA, despite willful sabotage, ACA rates still went down.

Depends on where you are at I guess. The company offering the lowest cost option in my area pulled out of the exchanges all together in 2018. The next cheapest option was something like 25% more expensive compared to the coverage I had in 2017.

Hooray for sabotage.

So back to the ACA, despite willful sabotage, ACA rates still went down.

Which shows that the willful sabotage was successful enough to reduce the decrease in rates from a potential 22% to just 4%. The fact that the rates went down only slightly is a big win for those trying to sabotage the ACA.

Very true.

 

[Emily Lake]

No. I'm saying that the person who wrote the linked article doesn't know how to read BCNC's press release.

Had the federal government not eliminated the individual mandate penalty, requested rates would be another 4 percent lower.
If federal Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments to insurers that were eliminated as of October 2017 were still in place, requested rates would be another 14 percent lower.

http://mediacenter.bcbsnc.com/news/blue-cross-nc-files-to-lower-aca-rates-by-average-of-4-1-percent

If X is the initial rate, then 4% less is (1-0.4)X. Another 14% reduction on top of the 4% gives us ((1 -0.04)X)(1-0.14) = (0.96)(0.86)X = 0.8256 or 17.44% reduction. Are you quibbling over a 0.56% difference?

??? There seems to be some miscommunication here.

The article in the OP Claimed that NC BC could have reduced their rates a further 18% if the mandate hadn't been removed. I said that the 18% potential was likely to be driven more by the removal of the CSR payments than by the removal of the mandate. The mandate would have an impact, certainly, but not a whole 18% worth. NC BC's own press release supports my assessment - they allocate approximately 4% of the 18% potential to the mandate, with 14% being allocated to the CSR payments. So I'm not quibbling about some tiny bit at all - I'm talking about 14 points out of a total of 18 points. Hell, I'm not even quibbling - I'm just pointing out that the mandate isn't the only factor here.

- - - Updated - - -

So back to the ACA, despite willful sabotage, ACA rates still went down.

Only in a very few areas Most of the US is still seeing large increases. I really wish they'd stop fucking with ACA and let it stabilize.

 

[RavenSky]

I think the bigger news is they announced they are lowering the ACA rates. Despite all of the Trump posturing and attempts to sabotage ACA, the rates are still going to be lowered. Curious if we see this trend across other states.

not in the red states...

except maybe Kentucky

 

[laughing dog]

Wrong thread.