by NEE
Obamacare Premiums Rise by as Much as 35 Percent in Washington DC
Obamacare health insurance premiums are skyrocketing in Washington DC by nearly 36 percent, according to a report from the Daily Caller.
Those enrolled in the Obamacare “bronze” plan, which offers the lowest premiums coupled with the highest deductibles, saw their premiums increase the most. However, premiums in the widely used “silver” plans are also expected to rise an average of 34 percent in 2018.
The Caller reports:
Health care premiums for the skimpiest Obamacare plans in the District of Columbia are skyrocketing in 2018, according to copies The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained of a D.C. resident’s monthly premiums for an Obamacare “Bronze” plan.
Daniel Turner, a single healthy guy in Washington, D.C., with no dependents on his health care plan, was shocked to see that his monthly premiums for his “Bronze” plan increased $97.07, or 35.91 percent, in 2018. Turner was paying $270.17 a month in premiums during 2017, but his insurance provider is now asking for him to cough up $367.18 a month for the exact same plan.
Turner chose to go with his new employer’s insurance coverage, but was still astounded to see such exorbitant rate increases on the part of insurance companies in just one year.
Bronze plans offer consumers the lowest monthly premiums, but are coupled with the highest deductibles — the amount a person has to pay out-of-pocket before their insurance provider pays a dime. Consumers with these plans have roughly $6,000 deductibles. That means Turner, in addition to paying over $360 in premiums, would have to spend up to $6,000 before his provider begins to cover any costs.
Despite its name, the Affordable Care Act did little to ameliorate the high cost of health insurance for ordinary Americans—Obamacare failed. Consider that some 51 million American adults were unable to fill their prescriptions in the last 6 months because of high drug prices.
Remember, the average cost of a family plan under Obamacare is $19,000 a year, according to data from the Wall Street Journal.
Likewise, we must acknowledge that rising premium costs are the norm: insurers anticipate double-digit premium increases in a majority of America’s large cities for 2018—it’s not just about Washington DC. Healthcare costs are out of control in America, and Obamacare’s only making it worse.