Some areas of the country will face an increase as high as 80 percent. So much for bending the cost curve down...
THURSDAY, April 18, 2013 (Kaiser Health News)
— Few aspects of the Affordable Care Act are more critical to its
success than affordability, but in recent weeks experts have predicted
costs for some health plans could soar next year.
Now health law supporters are pushing back, noting close ties between
the actuaries making the forecasts and an insurance industry that has
been complaining about taxes and other factors it says will lead to rate
shock for consumers.
“Most actuaries in this country — what percentage are employed by
insurance companies?” Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, asked an
actuary last week at a hearing of the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions.
The committee was discussing a study published last month by the
Society of Actuaries (SOA) predicting that, thanks to sicker patients
joining the coverage pool, medical claims per member will rise 32
percent in the individual plans expected to dominate the ACA exchanges
next year. In some states costs will rise as much as 80 percent, the
report said.
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