ACA Signups: Premiums—Up or Down?

Another Republican talking point debunked.

Year Two: More competition, new premiums all over the map

In spite of all the hand-wringing that people have had about the insurance company premium rates for the 2nd year of the exchanges (this is the main reason for all the freaking out about how many "young invincibles" there would be, etc etc), the truth is...the new premium levels appear to be all over the place:

   May 15--A first-glance snapshot of the lowest premium rates being proposed for individual health-insurance plans to be sold in the Washington Healthplanfinder exchange marketplace reveals spirited competition and more choices for consumers.

    These rates are not yet approved, and it's likely the number of plans requested will decline, according to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

    That office is now reviewing rate changes the companies requested.

    Changes proposed by companies asking to sell plans on Healthplanfinder ranged from a nearly 7 percent decrease in one case to an increase of more than 11 percent in others.

I wonder whether those decreased rates on some policies could have anything to do with more people having insurance so that they can go to regular doctors, and so getting their conditions treated early and inexpensively rather than catastrophically late, and also not saddling hospitals with unpaid ER bills, expenses that get passed to you in higher insurance payouts? Or worse, ERs and whole hospitals closing and denying you service when you might need it.

And how about those totally failed state exchange Web sites by Xerox, Oracle, and other astounding, amazing IT companies? We have some news on them, too, and on the relative cost of HC.gov and state exchanges.

OK, due to my unexpectedly-far-longer-lasting bout of shingles, I've gotten a bit backed up with my ACA news the past few weeks…

We'll get there. Shingles is indeed nasty stuff. Best wishes, brainwrap.