IRS: cheapest Obamacare plan will be $20,000 per year per family [CORRECTED]

UPDATE: The $20,000 figure is wrong. Here is the correction from Investors Business Daily: (H/T Sonya M. via Scott S.)

The most current information from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation put the cost of a family policy purchased through an employer in 2016 at $20,000 vs. $15,745 last year.

In 2016, average premiums for a family of four buying a silver-level plan through ObamaCare’s exchange are expected to be $15,400 — before subsidies. The lowest-cost bronze plan, which is far less comprehensive than typical employer policies, would cost about 85% of a silver plan, or $13,000.

CNS News with some sobering news about health care.

Excerpt:

In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.

Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.

The IRS’s assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.

The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan.

“The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,” the regulation says.

Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare–after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016.

In the new final rules published Wednesday, IRS set in law the rules for implementing the penalty Americans must pay if they fail to obey Obamacare’s mandate to buy insurance.

You might be thinking that you will be OK because you have health care through your employer, but there are lots of problems with that. First, your premiums are going up already because your insurer has to cover more people. Second, Obamacare is designed to drive out and eliminate private health insurers. Third, you may not have your job much longer because of the taxes, spending and regulations that harm your employer’s ability to stay afloat.

Filed under: News, Fine, Health Insurance, Health-care, Individual Mandate, Obamacare, Premium, Uninsured

Ezra Klein on the costs of Obamacare: then and now

Consider this article from Forbes about Obamacare and how it was presented by Ezra Klein, a well-known journalist from the left-leaning Washington Post. (H/T Bernie M.)

Excerpt:

The key thing to remember is that back when Obamacare was being debated in Congress, Democrats claimed that it was right-wing nonsense that premiums would go up under Obamacare. “What we know for sure,” Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber told Ezra Klein in 2009, “is that [the bill] will lower the cost of buying non-group health insurance.” For sure.

In 2009, was Ezra saying that it’s ok that premiums will double for the average person, because a minority of people will pre-existing conditions will benefit? No.

Earlier that year, AHIP, the private insurer trade group, commissioned a report from Price Waterhouse Coopers to analyze the impact of Obamacare on health insurance premiums in the individual market. That report, which I reviewed here and elsewhere, found that the version of Obamacare then being considered by the Senate Finance Committee would increase premiums by 14 to 32 percent, depending on the year you looked at. In retrospect, the PwC report was a bit optimistic.

But Ezra described the PwC analysis as “the insurance industry’s deceptive report,” comparing it to sham research put out by the tobacco industry and Big Oil. Ezra did concede at the time that “buying better insurance will cost somewhat more,” because insurers would no longer be able “to sell a deceptive and insufficient product.”

But high-deductible, catastrophic insurance isn’t cheaper because it’s dishonest. It’s cheaper because it’s more efficiently designed. And it’s precisely that sort of efficiently-designed insurance that Obamacare abolishes.

I blogged about that study from Price Waterhouse Coopers before, too. In fact, I fully explained why specific provisions of Obamacare would necessarily raise health insurance premiums.

Before the 2012 election, I linked to an article from Investors Business Daily, which confirmed that premiums had indeed risen since the passage of Obamacare.

Excerpt:

During his first run for president, Barack Obama made one very specific promise to voters: He would cut health insurance premiums for families by $2,500, and do so in his first term.

But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama’s vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey.

Premiums for employer-provided family coverage rose $3,065 — 24% — from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370.

What’s more, premiums climbed faster in Obama’s four years than they did in the previous four under President Bush, the survey data show.

Despite these facts, the American people went along with the mainstream media and re-elected Obama for a second term in 2012, blocking any repeal of Obamacare.

I think that the American people need to realize that most journalists cannot be counted on to handle research and evidence accurately. Most of them probably never even completed a high school math or science course. They studied journalism. Journalism is not computer science. Journalism is not petroleum engineering. Journalism is not nursing. Journalism is an area where students are graded based on their ability to parrot what their leftist professors tell them to believe.  At best, left-wing journalists are not competent. At worst, they are outright liars. Study after study on media bias has confirmed that left-wing journalists cannot be trusted to report the news fairly. That is not my opinion, that’s a fact.

Unfortunately for us, our failure to fix our little Obama mistake in the 2012 election is going to cost us all dearly – especially young people.

Related posts

• New report on Obamacare claims that premiums will go up 100% to 400%
• Americans finding out the true costs of Obamacare
• New study: Obamacare will raise cost of medical claims by 32%
• Five Guys franchise owner says Obamacare will force him to raise prices
• How the new Obamacare mandates are reducing full-time employment
• How does Obamacare cause medical premiums to rise?
• Obamacare’s new tax on medical devices trickles down to hospitals and patients
• Medical premiums will continue to rise as Obamacare is implemented
• Christian business Hobby Lobby defies Obamacare abortion mandate
• When health insurance is forced to cover more, insurance premiums go up
• Obamacare in action: Denny’s to charge 5% surcharge and cut employee hours
• Papa John pizza CEO: cuts to employee hours likely, because of Obamacare
• A primer on the fiscal cliff facing us in January 2013: tax hikes and Obamacare
• Companies announce layoffs in the wake of Obama’s re-election
• Sally Pipes: how Obamacare causes doctors to quit practicing medicine
• Why do some people oppose Obamacare? What does Obamacare do?
• The full list of Obamacare tax hikes in order from largest to smallest
• California: Obamacare exchanges will raise health insurance premiums up to 25%
• Health insurance premiums up $3,000 since Obama was elected
• Report: Obamacare regulations will cost taxpayers and businesses $1.8 trillion
• CBO: Unemployment rises to 9.1% in 2013, health care spending doubles by 2022
• Obamacare subsidizes the risky behaviors of sexually active women
• Obamacare begins forcing states to cap and cut prescription drug benefits
• CBO: 20 million Americans could lose employer-provided health coverage under Obamacare

Filed under: News, Costs, Health Care Costs, Health Care Expenses, Health Care Premiums, Health Insurance, Health-care, Mandate, Media Bias, Medical Insurance, Medical Treatment, Nationalized Health Care, Obamacare, Public Option, Ration, Rationing, Socialized Medicine, Waiting List

Weekly Standard podcast on Sebelius vs Hobby Lobby

The Weekly Standard has a great podcast that covers fiscal, social and foreign policy issues from a conservative perspective.

Excerpt:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with the Becket Fund’s Adele Keim on the Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius case.

This podcast can be downloaded here. Subscribe to THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s iTunes podcast feed here.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD would like to thank The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Adele Keim for joining us.

Fox News has a report.

Excerpt:

In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.

The Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain argued that businesses — not just the currently exempted religious groups — should be allowed to seek exception from that section of the health law if it violates their religious beliefs.

The arguments Thursday centered on the Green family, founders of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. and a sister company, Christian booksellers Mardel Inc. An eight-judge panel peppered both sides with questions about whether the contraceptives mandate is an undue burden on the Greens’ religious belief.

The Greens contend that emergency contraception is tantamount to abortion because it can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb. They also object to providing coverage for certain kinds of intrauterine devices.

Hobby Lobby’s lawyer argued that the Greens shouldn’t face fines for not complying with mandatory contraceptive coverage simply because their business makes a profit. The stores are a “profit-making company, yes, but also a ministry,” Kyle Duncan argued.

Duncan cited the Citizens United campaign-finance decision that said corporations have constitutional protections.

“We don’t say, well, a corporation can’t exercise a right because it’s in corporate form,” Duncan said.

“Is religion the kind of right can only be exercised by a natural person? Well, the question nearly answers itself. … It’s not a purely personal right.”

In other news, voters support the repeal of Obamacare by a 22-point margin, which is increasing as more and more of the law is actually implemented. Too bad we did not vote to defeat Obama by a 22-point margin last November.

Filed under: News, Abortion, Barack Obama, Civil Disobedience, Conscience, Conscience Protection, Conscience Rights, Court, Democrat, Freedom of Religion, Hobby Lobby, Infanticide, Mandate, Obamacare, Relativism, Religion, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, Sin, Theology, Trial, Truth

New report on Obamacare claims that premiums will go up 100% to 400%

From the Washington Examiner.

Excerpt:

Internal cost estimates from 17 of the nation’s largest insurance companies indicate that health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under Obamacare, and that some will soar more than 400 percent, crushing the administration’s goal of affordability.

New regulations, policies, taxes, fees and mandates are the reason for the unexpected “rate shock,” according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released a report Monday based on internal documents provided by the insurance companies. The 17 companies include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser Foundation.

The report found that individuals will face “premium increases of nearly 100 percent on average, with potential highs eclipsing 400 percent. Meanwhile, small businesses can expect average premium increases in the small group market of up to 50 percent, with potential highs over 100 percent.”

[...]It concluded: “Despite promises that the law will lower costs, [Obamacare] will in fact cause the premiums of many Americans to spike substantially. The broken promises are numerous, and the empirical data reveal that many Americans, from recent college graduates to older adults, will not be able to afford the law’s higher costs.”

In other news, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann led the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to pass a bill to repeal Obamacare. However, the bill is not expected to pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Elections matter.

Filed under: News, Costs, Health Insurance, Health-care, Insurance, Obamacare, Premium, Socialism

Americans finding out the true costs of Obamacare

The Daily Caller has a sobering article about the true costs of Obamacare.

Excerpt:

Millions of Americans are receiving double-digit premium hikes. For many people under 30, their health insurance premiums are going up much more — by as much as 189 percent. What happened to candidate Barack Obama’s 2008 promise that every family’s health care costs would go down by $2,500 by the end of his first term? (Costs actually went up by $3,000.)

The Congressional Budget Office projects Obamacare will cost tens of billions more over the next decade than the agency projected just three years ago. Those increases were not budgeted for, and will add to massive deficits.

So much for the promise that the law “will not add one dime to the deficit.”

Millions of workers at places like Wendy’s and Olive Garden are now being preemptively reclassified as part-time, and an estimated 7 million to 20 million employees face the loss of workplace health benefits altogether.

So much for the oft-heard promise that “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”

[...]Seniors were assured that the new system wouldn’t affect their benefits, despite Obamacare’s $716 billion in ten-year cuts to Medicare (to help pay for the new entitlement).

That promise was broken recently, when the Medicare agency issued surprise regulations cutting Medicare even more deeply than Congress had directed — cuts that target a popular and very successful part of Medicare, one that actually features consumer choice and competition, namely, Medicare Advantage (MA).

Seniors who opt into MA enjoy greater care coordination, disease management for chronic conditions, and on-call nurses available by phone. Those extra services — which in some cases mean the difference between life and death — are now slated for the chopping-block.

Rosemarie Battaglia will be among the millions of victims of these new regulations, which beginning April 1 will effectively shave MA plan payments by about 2 percentage points. On top of prior cuts enacted in Obamacare, that spells an 8 percent cut next year — a level higher than the profit margins for these plans.

Actuarial experts at the American Action Forum predict the cuts will cause between 2 and 5 million seniors to lose their MA benefits, and that MA recipients face health care cost increases averaging $2,235 a year.

When a President makes promises about economic policy, we shouldn’t believe him unless we have reasons to believe that he understands business and economics. We had no reason to believe that Obama understood economics. And, when given the reins of the economy, he’s proven that. Instead of electing people who sound nice in speeches, we should be electing people who have shown that they know how to solve the problems we’re facing in the economy. A track record of success at creating jobs, reducing the costs of health care, improving health care quality and choice, etc. should have counted for more than rhetoric. We chose the rhetoric and now we’re getting the screws.

Related posts

• New study: Obamacare will raise cost of medical claims by 32%
• Five Guys franchise owner says Obamacare will force him to raise prices
• How the new Obamacare mandates are reducing full-time employment
• How does Obamacare cause medical premiums to rise?
• Obamacare’s new tax on medical devices trickles down to hospitals and patients
• Medical premiums will continue to rise as Obamacare is implemented
• Christian business Hobby Lobby defies Obamacare abortion mandate
• When health insurance is forced to cover more, insurance premiums go up
• Obamacare in action: Denny’s to charge 5% surcharge and cut employee hours
• Papa John pizza CEO: cuts to employee hours likely, because of Obamacare
• A primer on the fiscal cliff facing us in January 2013: tax hikes and Obamacare
• Companies announce layoffs in the wake of Obama’s re-election
• Sally Pipes: how Obamacare causes doctors to quit practicing medicine
• Why do some people oppose Obamacare? What does Obamacare do?
• The full list of Obamacare tax hikes in order from largest to smallest
• California: Obamacare exchanges will raise health insurance premiums up to 25%
• Health insurance premiums up $3,000 since Obama was elected
• Report: Obamacare regulations will cost taxpayers and businesses $1.8 trillion
• CBO: Unemployment rises to 9.1% in 2013, health care spending doubles by 2022
• Obamacare subsidizes the risky behaviors of sexually active women
• Obamacare begins forcing states to cap and cut prescription drug benefits
• CBO: 20 million Americans could lose employer-provided health coverage under Obamacare

Filed under: News, Barack Obama, Big Government, Business, Costs, Coverage, Death Panels, Debt, Deficit, Democrat Party, Economics, Economy, Government, Government Spending, Health Insurance, Health-care, Healthcare, Medicine, Nationalization, Obamacare, Premium, Rationing, Recklessness, Regulation, Socialism, Socialized Medicine, Spending, Subsidies, Unemployment, Waste