“In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.
. . . .
We won’t do all this twenty years from now, or ten years from now. We’ll do it by the end of my first term as President of the United States.”
- Barack Obama, June 2008
Perhaps you recall a January 18, 2015 New York Times op-ed entitled "Hating Good Government" in which Paul Krugman declared:
"Meanwhile, the news on health reform keeps coming in, and it keeps being more favorable than even the supporters expected."
Well, Krugman might want to read a lead New York Times article entitled "Many Need to Shop Around on HealthCare.gov as Prices Jump, U.S. Says" by Robert Pear and Abby Goodnough, which today informs us:
"In Tennessee, the state insurance commissioner approved a 36 percent rate increase for the largest health insurer in the state’s individual marketplace. In Iowa, the commissioner approved rate increases averaging 29 percent for the state’s dominant insurer.
Health insurance consumers logging into HealthCare.gov on Sunday for the first day of the Affordable Care Act’s third open enrollment season may be in for sticker shock, unless they are willing to shop around. Federal officials acknowledged on Friday that many people would need to pick new plans to avoid substantial increases in premiums.
. . . .
Rates will rise next year by an average of 4 percent in California, one of the few states that actively negotiate prices, state officials said. In New York, state officials said rates would rise by an average of 7 percent. In Florida, consumers will see increases averaging 9.5 percent, the state said.
But in Hawaii, the insurance commissioner this month approved rate increases averaging 27 percent for the Hawaii Medical Service Association and 34 percent for Kaiser Permanente health plans."
But there is no need for concern: The price of health care insurance in the US is certain to drop precipitously in 2017 and beyond . . . not.
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