(BigGovernment.news) Those of us saddled with having to comply with every letter of Obamacare – which is all Americans minus the president it is named after and each member of Congress – have witnessed the law steadily eat away at disposable income even as it increasingly limited our coverage options. Well, apparently we ain’t seen nothing yet.
As reported by The Associated Press, premiums for health care coverage – already creeping higher – will skyrocket next year, Obama’s first full year out of office, even as tens of millions of consumers will be limited to just one insurer. So much for choice. So much for cost control.
The AP noted:
Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.
Moreover, about 1 in 5 consumers will only have plans from a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers such as UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna scaled back their roles.
“Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period,” said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
While Republicans continue to pledge a full Obamacare repeal, and GOP nominee Donald J. Trump has made a similar promise, President Obama and Democrats currently getting their healthcare premiums fully covered or specially subsidized are tone deaf to pleas from the majority of Americans who detest this law and want it done away with.
But “Mr. Middle Class” couldn’t care less about the double-digit premium increases that are being forecast. McClatchy Papers notes:
The Obama administration said Monday premiums for Obamacare will increase by an average of 25 percent next year.
The Department of Health and Human Services said each of the 39 states currently served by the federally run online insurance exchanges will experience different price hikes. Three large insurers have decreased participation in the Obamacare marketplace, which will leave one in five consumers with only one insurance plan to chose from.
There will be 28 percent fewer insurance companies participating in the exchanges, with only 167 available, down from 232. More than 10 million people buy insurance through HealthCare.gov, and many get financial assistance.
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