I am puzzled by the announcement from the Florida Insurance Commissioner saying rates will jump - bigtime - under Obamacare. (I could provide other links, but it appears that all media outlets are just repeating the same story). There is a pretty good amount of detail, talking about business rates, individual rates, and insurance companies involved.
What I'm wondering is, why is the Florida Insurance Commissioner saying anything about the implementation of exchanges under the ACA? What does he have to do with it? Florida refused to set up a state exchange, so it defaults to the federal exchange.
Nowhere in the article does it mention this tidbit. Instead, there is the phrase "state’s new health exchange". Was Florida allowed to opt in to after the deadline? I can't find any indication on .gov sites that that is the case, but it's certainly possible. After all, they were allowed to get all the Medicaid money, while privatizing Medicaid. Corporations Uber Alles, I suppose. I think that ploy was negated by the Legislature's wholesale rejection of the Medicaid expansion. Thanks, MartyM.
Here's an example of what Kevin McCarty's putting out.
The details come one day after Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said rates will rise an average of 5 to 20 percent for small businesses and 30 to 40 percent in the individual market. But he countered that those increases are partly due to the fact that consumers will receive more benefits, and the higher costs will be offset by federal subsidies in many cases.
Think many people are going to read the second part of that? Don't get me wrong. The requirement for insurance companies to provide actual insurance is a good thing, and a 30 to 40% increase isn't that much if you're replacing a crap unsurance plan with a real insurance plan. But I think the "30 to 40%" is what will be repeated ad infinitum, without context. A better approach would be to evaluate what difference there is likely to be between existing and future plans providing the same coverage. Better yet, the Florida Insurance Commissioner should just shut the hell up.
It gets worse. What the Florida guy is describing can hardly be called a state program. It's apparently different for every county.
Some of the state’s largest health insurers, including Florida Blue, Cigna, Humana and Aetna, will be among 11 plans competing through the state’s new health exchange in the individual market in all 67 counties. Many counties will be able to choose from six or seven carriers. But Bay, Franklin, Glades, Jefferson and Madison were among the 20 counties where consumers will only have one option.
Huh? Aside from the fact that "one" does not constitute an option, why would even a state program be fragmented into (67) different geographical areas? The better to screw you, no doubt. And a federal program doing it? Wow.
If this info (?) from the Florida politicians actually refers to the state exchanges under ACA, I think we have a problem. If it's instead referring to Florida Health Choices, then I must categorize this as just another propaganda campaign.
Anyone know which?
P.S. I haven't seen a diary about this yet. If there is one I missed, I'll be happy to delete this one.