The Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual survey of employer-based insurance showed that over the past year, premiums for family coverage increased just 4 percent. While 4 percent is still a hefty increase for many workers, it’s far less than the double-digit increases that were common in previous years.
What the insurance company executives were actually “disclosing” several months back was what they would like to charge for their policies on the marketplaces, not what they actually would be able to charge. Aetna, for example, might have liked to be able to charge $500 a month for a certain policy but it won’t because its competitors will charge less than that for the exact same coverage.
We’ve already seen in Oregon and other states that insurers have been resubmitting lower prices for policies after seeing what their competitors’ price plans are.
I predict that beginning Oct. 1, when the marketplaces go online, most people will discover that because of the new level of competition and the availability of tax credits, affordable coverage will actually at long last be available. Wendell Potter’s Full Article from The Center for Public Integrity
