enrolled in plans too. That could help lower municipal helath care costs too, that are bolstered by property taxes.

the wingnuts swear premiums will double. That's how republican economics work. When costs go down premiums will double. When you take away from the poor and give to the rich, the poor will get more.

We got a few DU'ers doing the same thing.

Insurance companies are losing ground in democratically-run states, and they're making up for it in states that don't have their own exchange.

But...You sure as hell aren't going to hear it reported that way in the corporate media.

..I live in Texas. I was paying $1100/mo for shitty insurance. I shopped and was able to get my premium down to $375/mo for basically the same policy from another company. I was shocked! I got my 20 yr old daughter added for $150/mo more. Something changed, because two yrs ago, I could not find anything less than $700/mo.

My new policy is with Humana. I was shocked I could get it tha cheap. No, it's not great insurance, as you might expect. It's $5K deductible and they pay 80% after that, but it could help avoid total financial ruin.

There's alot not said in that article. And there's the usual problem that media has with "averages" and anything else doing with math or statistics.

First, there is good news in there which is that overall costs are coming down. There was also this statement which may or may not be realized:

Because the cost of individual coverage has soared, only 17,000 New Yorkers currently buy insurance on their own. About 2.6 million are uninsured in New York State.

State officials estimate as many as 615,000 individuals will buy health insurance on their own in the first few years the health law is in effect. In addition to lower premiums, about three-quarters of those people will be eligible for the subsidies available to lower-income individuals.

This may be a bit of rose colored glasses here, but it's good news if they can get significantly above 17000. A big reason that the prices are falling is because the expectation is that it won't only be the sick buying insurance, but also a broder range of customers. Of course if those expectations don't play out, prices will rise rapidly.

Amongst the many reasons they might not play out is that although prices are probably falling for the highest premium class, for many others it may not be falling all that much. The average is going down, but averages can be very deceiving. Plus, the top can fall alot, and the average come down, even while the lowest rates are rising. It doesn't appear at first blush that this is true since they suggest their coming down to around $300 for the "lowest". But there is so much information NOT there it is hard to tell. There is reason to be optimistic, the subsidies predominately. These might change many peoples decisions on actually buying their own policy. But it means that these people actually have to sit down and decide to get an individual policy. It remains to be seen if this population of people will take the time and make the effort to do so, especially that portion of the population that isn't currently sick, or has a background of chronic illness of some sort.

This basically is a "predictive" piece. The companies have set rates based upon information provided to them and they have anticipated what future business will look like. They had to do this in a competetive environment. So they could be getting in now so they are positioned if and when prices rise. Time will only tell. And the young will be the biggest hurdle. Prices are probably rising for them, as if they needed any incentive to ignore this issue to begin with.

Next installment "single payer"!

Surely they couldn't make such a claim if it wasn't true! Next you'll be telling us that Fox just fucking makes shit up ... routinely, and as a perfect expresion of their "journalistic standards".

Personal premiums can go down and per capita health care expenses (which really drag the economy) may go up. ACA changes how health care is paid for, but does little to nothing to reign in costs

You have to look at co-pays, deductibles, and max out of pocket.

It doesn't do you any good if you can pay the premiums but can't afford to get sick.

I cannot believe that people are only looking at premiums and not your entire health cost if you get sick.

Geesh.

that the ACA implementation time-line has been pushed back a year.

Also as zipplewrath said, it is very unpredictable.
The dlc doesn't want to chance it.

IMO, ALL Americans must have health care (that the plans cover little or no dental and vision is absurd) , I know "the argument",
the "ACA is a major step in getting H.C. for all", sans insurance companies.

It would be great if this were true, and by looking around the world it is hard to imagine that someday America will not have Universal health care. All of the other developed nations already have it and their citizens would not allow them to get rid of it.

However, since America is the greediest developed nation (corporate owned, lobbyist run) in the world, IMO universal health care here
is still far in our future (if we have one).

Yes, ACA is a give-a-way to the insurers, their PROFITS (what America is currently all about) will soar. We will get many more people insured. I hope that this is a good thing.
With the unpredictability of the ACA, it is likely that average people still will not be helped. The co-pays, loopholes, prescription costs, etc.. may (unknown) still put real health care out-of-reach for the masses while vastly enriching the insurers, only time will tell
and when "they" rolled-back the implementation of the ACA, it was not a positive indicator.

As unimaginable as it seems in a country supposed to be "for and by the People" Hope in the generosity of our benefactors is all it seems we have.

on edit: the ACA did do away with max out of pocket.

That is why I wrote "supposed to be."

Someone making 15k a year in Ocala Florida and someone who lives in NYC making 15k a year will pay the same minimum insurance premium amount? If so that is totally fucked up. How would they scale this? They will need to know what the cost of living is for every area and what the minimum living wage income is for each area. I doubt this is going to be a fair system.

Read the op. This doesn't have anything to do with Ocala, FL.

BTW ACA is national.

different rates. WTF

WTF indeed.

American's should no longer be forced to bear the burden of expensive leg transplants that are free in the rest of the world!!!!

Just think of how much lower the costs would be if we had single-payer.