Business Advisor, Denesha Insurance Agency, California
Yes, No, Maybe. Depends what perspective you ask the question. Insured wants to know if their premium, co-payments, deductible and max out of pocket are going to increase? Normally premiums are guaranteed for a year, unless you have a birthday that moves you into next premium category. Or, there is a regulatory rate increase. Or possibly mandatory dental linked with major medical that is implemented in 2015. Providers. Costs will probably increase. Costs of providing care will depend on how efficient a business person the doctor, and or facility perform. Insurer. Probably. Newly insured will access health care in the next few years that otherwise would have waited. The hope is to catch potential expensive conditions in early stage, thus reducing overall cost. The migration to electronic record keeping can increase short term costs with hopeful long term efficiencies.
Are health insurance costs going to increase in 2015? Yep, Nope, Maybe
In the big picture sense, Yes, health insurance rates are going up for the 2015 plan year. As always there are winners and losers in every rating cycle and the implementation of the health insurance marketplaces in 2014 totally reset the pricing dynamics in virtually every state. So, an individual group's experience or an individual person's experience with their health insurance rates for 2015 may vary substantially from the overall national trends. And in some ways it is difficult to make apples-to-apples comparisons of a person or group's pre and post-Obamacare rating and benefit positions because the basic changes to health insurance rating have been so fundamental in the individual and small group marketplaces.
Also, I'll let you in on a secret. Health insurance rates will be higher in 2016 than they were in 2015. It has been this way for the 30 years of my career and the health care reform law did virtually nothing to address healthcare costs only to increase insured access to healthcare. So, the trend of increasing costs on a year over year basis should be anticipated to continue for the foreseeable future.
That is a great question! The answer is yes, probably, depending upon where you live. Here in Houston, it went up about 4%, but there are other parts of the country where prices declined, or went up higher than ours, as the insurers got more comfortable with the client base and costs. Overall, the price increases have been very minimal compared to what they were pre-ACA, but if the new Congress and Supreme Court get the bill gutted like they want, then we can most likely expect that the double digit increases return in 2016. Let's hope not, especially if you're one of the people who benefited from the subsidy, or the demise of the pre-existing condition exclusion. If you are, I'd be writing a Congressman, or three, and a Judge or two to boot...Thank you for asking!
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Are health insurance costs going to increase in 2015? Yep, Nope, Maybe
Also, I'll let you in on a secret. Health insurance rates will be higher in 2016 than they were in 2015. It has been this way for the 30 years of my career and the health care reform law did virtually nothing to address healthcare costs only to increase insured access to healthcare. So, the trend of increasing costs on a year over year basis should be anticipated to continue for the foreseeable future.