With New Health Law, Sharp Rise in Premiums—New York Times, 20+ Other Outlets

2013 California Filings:   Aetna: 22 percent.  Anthem Blue Cross: 26 percent.  Blue Shield of California: 20 percent.

Reed Abelson at the New York Times reported last week that health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers. More:

These rate requests are all the more striking after a 39 percent rise sought by Anthem Blue Cross in 2010 helped give impetus to the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, which was passed the same year and will not be fully in effect until 2014.

 In other states, like Florida and Ohio, insurers have been able to raise rates by at least 20 percent for some policy holders. The rate increases can amount to several hundred dollars a month.

The proposed increases compare with about 4 percent for families with employer-based policies.

Under the health care law, regulators are now required to review any request for a rate increase of 10 percent or more; the requests are posted on a federal Web site, healthcare.gov, along with regulators’ evaluations.

The review process not only reveals the sharp disparity in the rates themselves, it also demonstrates the striking difference between places like New York, one of the 37 states where legislatures have given regulators some authority to deny or roll back rates deemed excessive, and California, which is among the states that do not have that ability.

By Almost All Accounts, Healthcare Costs Have Risen Since Obamacare Was Enacted

Read the whole piece here.

The New York Times report is only the newest report in a long media consensus of how Obamacare was spurred insurers to radically raise costs.  In 2010, when Obamacare first passed, the media reported that many insurers were raising rates up to 30%.  With the current new 20%+ raises, healthcare may now be at least 50% more expensive than it was before Obamacare was passed, and before Obamacare ever takes effect.  See previous:

• Obamacare’s Health Insurance Sticker Shock   —Wall Street Journal   [1/13/13]

• Is Obamacare Causing Healthcare Premiums to Rise?  —Reason [1/8/13]
• Study Predicts Obama Healthcare Law Will Raise Premiums on Young Adults  —The Hill  [1/7/2013]
• Obamacare Guarantees Higher Health Insurance Premiums — $3,000+ Higher   —Forbes  [1/7/2013]
• Laszewski on ObamaCare: ‘Get Ready for Some Startling Rate Increases’  —Cato  [12/5/2012]
• Five Ways to Protect Yourself Against Obamacare  —Forbes [12/5/2012]
• Love Obamacare? Get Ready for More Health-Care Legislation   —Entrepreneur.com  [11/28/2012]
• Fact Check: ‘Obamacare’  Hasn’t Yet Reduced Health Insurance Costs   —LA Times  [10/3/2012]
• Obamacare Increases Health Insurance Premiums   —Heritage  [9/21/2012]
• Insurers Pin Rate Hikes on Health Law  —Wall Street Journal  [9/7/2012]
• Obama’s Claim that Health Care Premiums Will Go Down Gets Three Pinocchios From Washington Post    [8/10/2012]
• How Obamacare Taxes Hurt Seniors    —US News and World Report [7/10/2012]
• 20 Hidden Tax Hikes Under Obamacare  —Americans for Tax Reform   [6/29/12]
• Obamacare’s Seven Tax Hikes On Under $250,000 Earners  —Forbes [6/28/2012]
• Obamacare’s Hidden Taxes  —Investors Business Daily   [6/28/2012]
• How Obamacare Dramatically Increases The Cost of Insurance for Young Workers  —Forbes  [3/22/2012]
• CBO: ObamaCare Price Tag Shifts from $940 Billion to $1.76 Trillion  —Yahoo! News [3/14/2012]
• In Depth:  10 Surprising Ways Health Reform Will Cost You —Forbes  [1/16/2012]
• 6 Reasons Healthcare Costs Keep Going Up —CNN  [1/7/2012]
• Obamacare Continued: Anthem Blue Cross to raise rates 47% in Connecticut    —RadioViceOnline [10/15/2010]
• Obamacare and Insurance Premiums: Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire  —National Review  [9/17/2010]
• Health Care Premiums Are Already Soaring In Advance of Obamacare, CBO Estimates   —FoxNews  [08/16/2010]
• Why ObamaCare Will Raise Your Bill     —Forbes   [1/18/2010]