Huge health insurance rate increases in store for 2016

[untermensche]

You seem to think Democrat is the same thing as the left.

Technically I seem to think that "the Democrats" are not the same thing as "the right".

They represented insurance corporations and not their constituents on the public option issue.

Profits over people.

Typical right wing thinking.

 

[dismal]

Technically I seem to think that "the Democrats" are not the same thing as "the right".

There is something of an overlap, however.

To someone standing on the North Pole everyone is in the South.

 

[dismal]

Technically I seem to think that "the Democrats" are not the same thing as "the right".

They represented insurance corporations and not their constituents on the public option issue.

Profits over people.

Typical right wing thinking.

Makes you wonder what Obama and his legions of rightwing apologists mean when the say "Obamacare is working", eh?

Did you see the way those health insurance stocks rallied on that last Supreme Court decision?

 

[Alcoholic Actuary]

1) Insurance companies ask for rate increases every year. They still have the burden of proving to the state that the increases are necessary - and only after DOI approval can they implement the rates they get approved for (which are almost never the amount they ask for).

2) Regardless of what they receive, the ACA still mandates that the insurer carry a minimum loss ratio of 80 - 85%. If they asked for too much rate, they will have to provide refunds every year to every policy holder - an expensive exercise that makes excessive rate increases more detrimental than beneficial.

aa

 

[untermensche]

They represented insurance corporations and not their constituents on the public option issue.

Profits over people.

Typical right wing thinking.

Makes you wonder what Obama and his legions of rightwing apologists mean when the say "Obamacare is working", eh?

Did you see the way those health insurance stocks rallied on that last Supreme Court decision?

I suspect you will have to go to any individual that makes such a claim to find out why.

But removing the ability to discriminate based on health status, the ability to keep your children insured longer and the millions that have insurance that didn't are all positives.

 

[Alcoholic Actuary]

Did you see the way those health insurance stocks rallied on that last Supreme Court decision?

The removal of uncertainty always paints a positive picture when estimating quarterly targets. The same thing happened with the BP settlement - even though BP lost another $18m dollars. I'm sure you already knew that, but I understand that it kills your narrative.

aa

 

[Tom Sawyer]

2) Regardless of what they receive, the ACA still mandates that the insurer carry a minimum loss ratio of 80 - 85%. If they asked for too much rate, they will have to provide refunds every year to every policy holder - an expensive exercise that makes excessive rate increases more detrimental than beneficial.

And I'm sure that they don't have any accounting tricks at all to get around that.

 

[PyramidHead]

There is something of an overlap, however.

To someone standing on the North Pole everyone is in the South.

An apt metaphor for the rightward skew of American politics relative to the rest of the world (the "South").

 

[fromderinside]

To someone standing on the North Pole everyone is in the South.

An apt metaphor for the rightward skew of American politics relative to the rest of the world (the "South").

All this begs the fundamental question "Why would anyone want to be in the far north?" Its as if no one has ever been there, seen the suffering, so as a consequence they associate it with white. Everyone knows the All Whites will destroy the All Blacks on the pitch.


Think north. What comes up? Cold, bitter cold, desolation, snow blindness, frost bite, big white bears, Sasquatch, Siege of Moscow, tundra, gulag, great slave lake, and other fun stuff. brrrrrr.

No one wants to be in the far north so they have to be on the right every body knows it is wrong because in the south all people are more or less brown.

There, dismal is wrong ..... again!

I'm starting an ACA 2% movement.

 

[bilby]

From my point of view outside the US, I can see that you have a two party system.

One party is a far-right, free market, pro-business, anti-welfare state bunch of corporate shills who are far more interested in the rights of the hyper wealthy than in the problems faced by the majority of the population.

The other is the GOP, whose existence seems only to serve the purpose of showing, counterintuitively, that the Democrats are not as far right as it is possible to get.

 

[Togo]

From my point of view outside the US, I can see that you have a two party system.

One party is a far-right, free market, pro-business, anti-welfare state bunch of corporate shills who are far more interested in the rights of the hyper wealthy than in the problems faced by the majority of the population.

The other is the GOP, whose existence seems only to serve the purpose of showing, counterintuitively, that the Democrats are not as far right as it is possible to get.

The US is regularly described over here as having two parties, a right wing party and a very right wing party.

 

[Axulus]

From my point of view outside the US, I can see that you have a two party system.

One party is a far-right, free market, pro-business, anti-welfare state bunch of corporate shills who are far more interested in the rights of the hyper wealthy than in the problems faced by the majority of the population.

The other is the GOP, whose existence seems only to serve the purpose of showing, counterintuitively, that the Democrats are not as far right as it is possible to get.

The US is regularly described over here as having two parties, a right wing party and a very right wing party.

Based on what criteria?

 

[ksen]

rationalism, probably

 

[Axulus]

rationalism, probably

Total non-sequitur

 

[ksen]

It's almost like we get this kind of thing from insurers about every year around this time.

 

[bleubird]

I am 18 months a way from getting Medicare.Hope the Repugs don't fuck that up!

 

[dismal]

It's almost like we get this kind of thing from insurers about every year around this time.

Do we get this a lot?

Oregon Insurance Division poised to approve 2016 rate hikes

Preliminary decisions even increase rates for six carriers

The dramatic, double-digit rate increases Oregon’s health insurers proposed for 2016 are very likely to become reality, according to preliminary decisions released Thursday by the Oregon Insurance Division.

The division, which assesses carriers’ rate proposals and moves them up or down in accordance with a number of factors, says it not only agrees with most of the rate increases insurers want to see on the individual market — it believes many don’t go far enough.

For six carriers, the division wants to bump rates even higher than what was originally proposed at the end of April.

Customers buying policies on the individual market in 2016 can expect to pay an average of 38.5 percent more for a LifeWise policy, 37.8 percent more for a Health Republic policy, 37.1 percent more for a PacificSource Health Plans policy and 25.6 percent more for a Moda policy.

Laura Cali, Oregon’s insurance commissioner, said the increases are necessary to ensure carriers make enough money from premiums to pay claims. In 2014, the division found claims costs exceeded premium revenue by $127 million for carriers, or an average of $624 per person.

Judging by first-quarter data from this year, Cali said, the division believes costs will again exceed premium revenue.

“Our rate review is not always about bringing rates down; it’s about making sure that they’re adequate,” she said, “and so sometimes it does result in us proposing increased rates.”

Some of the greedy and evil insurance companies forgot to ask for enough money so the steadfast and noble insurance commissioner forced them to go with higher rates.

http://www.bendbulletin.com/home/3263747-151/oregon-insurance-division-poised-to-approve-2016-rate#

 

[ksen]

Some of the greedy and evil insurance companies forgot to ask for enough money

These insurance companies are operating at a loss?

 

[dismal]

Some of the greedy and evil insurance companies forgot to ask for enough money

These insurance companies are operating at a loss?

In 2014, the division found claims costs exceeded premium revenue by $127 million for carriers, or an average of $624 per person.

I'm not an insurance company expert, but I imagine it's hard to cover your overhead let alone make profit if your claims costs alone significantly exceed your revenue.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

These insurance companies are operating at a loss?

In 2014, the division found claims costs exceeded premium revenue by $127 million for carriers, or an average of $624 per person.

I'm not an insurance company expert, but I imagine it's hard to cover your overhead let alone make profit if your claims costs alone significantly exceed your revenue.

You do know what a "division of a company" is?