David Gregory made the point today on MTP, that Republican Governors trying to the block the New Exchanges, the key ingredient of the Affordable Care Act, are primarily the same states which are experiencing the projected increases in Health Insurance rates.
Apparently Florida Governor Rick Scott is trying to make that same point too.
Florida Among States Undercutting Health Care Enrollment
by Lizette Alvarez and Robert Pear, NYTimes.com -- Sep 17, 2013
[...] They are complicating enrollment efforts and limiting information about the new program.
Chief among them is Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-dominated Legislature have made it more difficult for Floridians to obtain the cheapest insurance rates under the exchange and to get help from specially trained outreach counselors.
[...]
The online exchanges are designed to offer a variety of insurance plans at subsidized prices and are meant to make health care more affordable to lower-income people who do not have insurance. Outreach counselors, known as navigators, provide information about the plans and help enroll applicants.
Ms. Sebelius also criticized Florida’s rejection of $50 billion in federal money over 10 years to expand Medicaid, its concerns about privacy issues, which she said were unfounded, and its sudden unwillingness to grapple with insurance rates.
[...]
A recent Rand Report appears to back up the contention that ACTUALLY implementing the new insurance exchanges, will actually tend to drive down Insurance costs.
Competitive market forces and all that ... Hmmm, didn't the GOP used
to 'stand for' market-based solutions? My my, how far
they've fallen from the once-precarious perch of
credibility.
Premium Increases Under Obamacare May Be Overstated
by Drew Armstrong & Alex Wayne, Bloomberg.com -- Aug 29, 2013
Predictions of sharp increases in health-insurance premiums for people getting coverage under the U.S. Affordable Care Act have been overstated and many states will see little to no change, researchers at Rand Corp. found.
Out-of-pocket premiums for most individuals who buy health plans through new insurance exchanges will decline because of federal subsidies, the Santa Monica, California-based nonprofit research group said today in a report. The researchers looked at insurance markets in 10 states to project costs as core parts of the 2010 health law kick in next year.
“Rates for policies in the individual market are likely to vary from state to state, with some experiencing increases and some experiencing decreases in cost,” Christine Eibner, a Rand senior economist and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “But our analysis found no widespread trend toward sharply higher prices in the individual market.”
[...]
So REFUSING to allow the new insurance exchanges, would tend to have the opposite effect --
tend to increase Insurance costs.
Having choices is supposed to be the core of the American economic system, isn't it?
Opting out of the ACA has consequences. Both to state budgets and to a state's residents.
Opting out is a choice too. Have at it Republican Governors ... It's your re-election anchor ...
You Can't Resist The Medicaid Expansion — Another Republican Governor Wants In
by Josh Barro, BusinessInsider.com -- Sep 12, 2013
Even though conservatives want to resist Obamacare implementation in any way they can, 9 of 30 Republican governors have pushed for their states to participate in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. It looks like that number is about to rise to 10.
[...] The federal government will pay for 100% of the cost of expanded Medicaid until 2016 and then 90% thereafter. Generally, expanded Medicaid will cover people with family incomes up to 133% of the poverty level; people with higher incomes will buy subsidized coverage through Obamacare exchanges.
[...] Conservatives are obsessed with blocking Obamacare and they don't want states to participate in any way, even if the federal government will pay substantially all the costs. But when Republican state officials decline to participate, they will have to explain to both medical providers and potential Medicaid beneficiaries that they turned down free federal money just to spite the president.
[...]
As per usual the GOP faux concerns about the "future costs" of providing for the "
General Welfare" of all Americans (like the Constitution instructs them to do) --
are objectively quite overstated. As per usual.
The Affordable Care Act and Health Insurance Markets
Simulating the Effects of Regulation
by Christine Eibner, Amado Cordova, Sarah A. Nowak, Carter C. Price, Evan Saltzman, Dulani Woods -- Rand Report
[...] The authors conclude that the Affordable Care Act will lead to an increase in insurance coverage and higher enrollment in the nongroup market. [...] They find that the law has little effect on small group premiums and find large variation in the effects for nongroup premiums across states. The analysis suggests that comparisons of average premiums with and without the Affordable Care Act may overstate the potential for premium increases.
Ten years from now the Red-state rage-induced residents (the next-generation of the Tea Party) will most likely be marching in the streets, with signs that say:
KEEP YOUR GOVT HANDS --
OFF of my Medicare Affordable Care!
Just give the special interest pot-stirrers time. Creating confusion IS their bread and butter, afterall.