Health care law: claims and counterclaims on premium costs

Health care law: claims and counterclaims on premium costs

The new health care law mandated by Health Care Reform is uncharted territory, and predictions about premium increases are flying fast and furious. The truth is, nobody knows how it will all shake out. Maryland and DC are among the 17 jurisdictions that will run their own health care exchanges. The rest, including Virginia, have ceded control to the federal government.

As explained in last weeks Bulletin, Maryland officials are considering insurers requests to raise individual premiums by 25 percent in one carriers case. California is farther into the process than Maryland, so a look at its experience can be instructive. A recent article in Forbes said individual premiums will increase by 64 to 146 percent. In response, Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein pointed out that he believes the low-premium plans the Forbes writer found on eHealthInsurance.com, which he used as a basis for comparison, dont offer comparable coverage to that of the health care exchanges.

For one thing, some applicants to current insurance plans are turned down, which wont be an option for the state exchanges. And in the first year, only 2.5 percent of Americans nationally are expected to buy insurance through the exchanges a figure expected to rise to 8 percent by 2023, according to regulators.

The bottom line: There will be many claims and counterclaims on premium costs and other aspects of the new health care law as we all find our way through the initial stages. As always, WANADA will work to keep you informed.

One glitch for the health care exchanges, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report: Delays in developing the federal data hub designed to connect the exchanges with federal agencies could create problems for meeting the exchanges October 1, 2013 deadline for offering insurance.

The D.C. City Council last week passed legislation that requires small businesses to buy employee health insurance through the citys health care exchange. The mandate wouldnt kick in until 2015, which is still sooner than insurers would like. Insurance companies have said that premiums will rise substantially when the health care law takes effect next year.