The Heritage Foundation has a new report which estimates and compares insurance rates via the glitch-plagued Obamacare exchanges versus pre-Obamacare insurance rates. In 45 states, insurance will cost considerably more under Obamacare.
For eleven states, including Arizona, insurance rates will more than double for young people. In Virginia rates triple.
In Arizona, Heritage estimates that for a 27-year-old, insurance rates will rise 157%; for an adult aged 50, insurance rates will rise 42%, and for a family of four, insurance rates will rise almost 12%.
For five states that already have over-regulated insurance schemes that produced artificially higher rates, Obamacare exchanges produce less expensive insurance: Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Rhode Island.
See the Heritage report, which includes a table showing rates for all states here.
Another Heritage Foundation report focuses on Obamacare’s impact on seniors (see here). Not only will costs increase, but Obamacare may decrease access to health care providers.
“The 2012 Medicare trustees report says that between 2012 and 2017, seniors’ standard Medicare Part B monthly premiums will jump from $99.90 to $128.20, while their Part B deductibles will rise from $140 to $180. Seniors’ Medicare hospital deductible will increase from $1,156 to $1,336, while their daily hospital co-insurance will climb from $289 to $334.”
“Obamacare mandates $716 billion in Medicare payment reductions over the next 10 years.” These cuts are “across-the-board changes in Medicare payment formulas for hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, hospice agencies, and Medicare Advantage plans.” Heritage says that with these cuts, “seniors’ ability to access Medicare services will surely be compromised.”
The report also estimates that those seniors with Medicare Advantage plans will face increasing costs, and many will be forced out into the wild world of Obamacare exchanges.
Heritage concludes: “Medicare ‘as we know it’ is already a thing of the past and the only way to preserve Medicare for current and future retirees is through major, market-based structural reform.”