“pre-existing conditions” | Health Beat by Maggie Mahar

That House Speaker John Boehner would ask this question shows either:

a) how little he understands about the Affordable Care Act; OR

b) how committed he is to making sure that the American public does not understand the purpose of health care reform.

I would pick “b”.

Republicans are now suggesting that if the employer mandate (requiring that businesses offer benefits to their workers or pay a penalty) is being postponed until 2015, the Obama administration should postpone the individual mandate as well.

“Is it fair for the president of the United States to give American businesses an exemption from his health care law’s mandates without giving the same exemption to the rest of America?” Boehner asks.

What he ignores, of course is that under the Affordable Care Act, .middle-income as well as low-income citizens would receive generous tax credits to help them purchase insurance. Not long ago, I wrote about those subsidies, and a new “subsidy calculator” that will let an individual estimate how large his subsidy would be).

More than 26 million Americans will be eligible for these tax credits next year–though most dont know it. And by attempting to delay the individual mandate, the GOP is trying to make sure that they don’t find out.

The Individual Mandate and the Employer Mandate Are Not Connected

Meanwhile Boehner pretends that the two mandates are somehow connected, In fact, they have nothing to do with each other.

The individual mandate exists because, under Obamacare, insurers are required to cover people suffering from pre-existing conditions. Aetna will no longer be able to shun the sick, nor will it be able to slap them with sky-high premiums.

This part of the law is extremely popular. Most Americans understand that any one of us could be diagnosed with cancer tomorrow. The goal of the law is to protect all of us against the vicissitudes of fate by ensuring that we have access to affordable insurance.

But if there were no individual mandate requiring that we all purchase insurance (or pay a penalty), a great many people would wait until they became ill, and only then buy insurance.As a result the insurance pool would be filled with folks who need expensive care, and everyone’s premiums would spiral.

If we want to insist that insurers cover the sick, we also must insist that everyone join the insurance pool. We all share in the risk of becoming sick, and so all must share in the cost. Ultimately, insurance is all about “pooling the risk.”

(Those who believe that they shouldn’t have to join the pool because they are young or because they don’t smoke, exercise regularly and generally “take care of themselves” are ignoring the most basic fact about the human condition: “all flesh is grass”. )

The requirement that insurers must cover a 30-year-old suffering from MS cannot be separated from the individual mandate. We cannot have one without the other. The architects of health care reform understood the connection

By contrast, the employer mandate has little to do with the individual mandate. The phrases sound alike, that’s about it. The individual mandate and the employer mandate do not depend on each other.

If some employers decide that they will wait until 2015 before offering comprehensive, affordable health benefits, their employees will be eligible for subsidies to help them purchase their own coverage. Postponing the employer mandate in no way affects their ability to obtain coverage at a cost they can afford. Alternatively, if an individual decides not to purchase insurance, next year, he will be asked to pay a penalty of just $95.

This is what Fox News calls “a hefty fine.”

Today, many Americans are asking: will my premiums go up in 2014?

There is no simple answer.

According to Families USA ,the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have a positive effect on the typical family’s budget. Using an economic model that can factor in all provisions of the Act (ACA), Family’s USA estimates that by 2019, when the law is fully implemented, “the average household will be $1,571 better off.”

Even high-income families will save: thanks to rules that limit co-pays, and reward providers for becoming more efficient, “those earning $100,000 to $250,000” will spend $779 less on medical care.” But these are “averages.” They don’t tell you whether your health care costs will rise or fall.

The answer will depend on: your income, your age, your gender, who you work for, what state you live in, whether a past illness or injury has been labeled a “pre-existing condition,” and what type of insurance you have now:

If you work for a large company:

— The ACA will have a “negligible” effect on your premiums says the Congressional Budget Office(CB0). This doesn’t mean that your costs won’t climb at all in 2014. As long as medical product-makers and providers continue to raise prices, premiums will edge up each year.

But in 2012 average premiums for employer-based insurance rose by just 3% for single coverage and 4% for families, a “modest increase” when compared to 8% to 12% jumps in past years. And on average, employee co-pays and deductibles remained flat.

Granted, a 3% to 4% increase still outpaces growth in workers’ wages (1.7% percent) and general inflation (2.3%) percent).But as reform reins in spending annual increases for large groups could fall to 2%–or less.

If you work for a small company with more than 50 employees:

Your boss will be more likely to offer affordable benefits, in part because, if he doesn’t, he will have to pay a penalty

Moreover, he will find insurance less expensive. Today, small businesses pay 18% more than large companies because the administrative costs of hand-selling plans to small groups are sky-high. But starting in 2014 businesses with fewer than 100 employees will begin buying insurance in “Exchanges” where they will become part of a large group, and eligible for lower rates.

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Category Archives: “pre-existing conditions”

Boehner Asks: “Why A Break for Businesses Only?”

Under the ACA, will YOUR Insurance Premiums Rise or Fall?

If you work for a large company: