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Political Lines Sharpen Over Cost of ObamaCare
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A Mahoning Valley state senator and an Ohio progressive group are firing back at claims by the Ohio Department of Insurance and its director, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, that assert consumers who buy health insurance on the federal government's health insurance exchange for Ohio will pay an average of 41% more than they did in 2013.
At the same time, department officials announced they confirmed previously-released preliminary calculations that insurance companies’ costs to provide individual health coverage will increase by 83%.
Initial open enrollment for the health-care exchanged established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, is set to being Oct. 1, with coverage becoming effective Jan. 1. Through the exchanges, individuals and small business owners in every state can purchase subsidized coverage.
The claims drew fire from both state Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-32 Hubbard, and Brian Rothenberg, executive director of ProgressOhio, who charged that Taylor was attempting to score political points using misleading numbers.
Cafaro accused Taylor of engaging in “faulty math, misleading statements and omissions to mischaracterize the benefits” of the state’s health insurance exchange. “ODI’s inflated numbers failed to mention that Ohioans participating in the exchange will choose between three levels of coverage and the actual cost will be much lower because of tax credits,” she said.
“It’s unfortunate that Ohio has chosen obstructionism instead of cooperation. States that have engaged with implementing the Affordable Care Act are seeing insurance rates drop. The premiums for plans covered by New York’s exchange are expected to fall by 50% and small business owners in Los Angeles will see their premiums drop by an average of 13 to 17% because of rates negotiated by California’s exchange,” Cafaro continued.
Like Cafaro, Rothenberg said Taylor’s and ODI’s assertions go against the trend seen in large states and don’t include the discounts created by the subsidies. The lieutenant governor’s approach came as no surprise, he added.
"Announcing [the rates] without the subsidies is cynical because that’s not how people are going to buy insurance. If the goal is to enroll people, announcing rates without examples of subsidies makes no sense,” he said.
Taylor’s “well-known hatred for the Affordable Care Act is causing her to take an action as the state's insurance commissioner that hurts the people of Ohio,” he added. “She shouldn’t announce rates without illustrating what that means for real people benefiting from tax credits that can be substantial in some moderate income categories."
The Ohio Department of Insurance announcement was also fodder for an email from Taylor and Gov. John Kasich’s campaign. In addition to calling on recipients to donate funds, the email also invites them to sign an online petition opposing Obamacare.
The department used a National Association of Insurance Commissioners report of premiums reported by Ohio companies at the end of 2012 to compare premiums. It predicts that individual exchange plan premiums are expected to increase on average by 41% in 2014 compared to 2013, while exchange plans for Ohio's small businesses will increase on average by 18%.
For individual health insurance plans, a total of 12 companies offering 200 different plans have been approved by the department for the exchange. For small group health insurance plans, six companies offering 184 plans have been approved to sell on the exchange.
Based on premiums for the current individual market, plans in Ohio today cost on average $236.29 per month compared to $332.58 in 2014, the department estimated. For the small group market, today’s premiums average is $341.03 per month compared to $401.99 in 2014.
Estimates from a Society of Actuaries study released in 2013 showed Ohio’s current average cost to provide individual health insurance coverage is $223. Based on the rate filings approved by the department, the average cost to provide coverage for individuals purchasing health insurance on the exchange in 2014 is $409 representing an increase of 83% when compared to the Society of Actuaries study.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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