Individuals buying health insurance on their own will see their premiums tumble next year in New York State as changes under the federal health care law take effect, state officials are to announce on Wednesday.
State insurance regulators say they have approved rates for 2014 that are at least 50 percent lower on average than those currently available in New York. Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower.
Supporters of the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, credited the drop in rates to the online purchasing exchanges the law created, which they say are spurring competition among insurers that are anticipating an influx of new customers. The law requires that an exchange be started in every state.
“Health insurance has suddenly become affordable in New York,” said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president for health initiatives with the Community Service Society of New York. “It’s not bargain-basement prices, but we’re going from Bergdorf’s to Filene’s here.”
“The extraordinary decline in New York’s insurance rates for individual consumers demonstrates the profound promise of the Affordable Care Act,” she added.
This is why it sucks balls to be in a state, like mine for instance, that is refusing to opt in to ACA.
However I have to imagine that as more and more people living in red states see how this law is helping people in more reasonable states the email inbox's of their political representatives will soon be bulging with angry messages demanding that they start working WITH the Affordable Care Act to help bring their costs down as well.
By the way here is a list of the states currently opting out:
Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
If you are on this list perhaps your Senators and Congressmen need to hear from you.
As an IT contractor to my clients, I don't have any health insurance.
ReplyDeleteFrom Blue Cross, under the old regime, I recently I got a quote
for $800 a month, with a $5000 deductible, and there's a 3 page list of fine print, and uncovered situations with caps and thresholds.
Under the ACA (thank you President Obama), the obscene profit margins that have characterized the health insurance industry will be somewhat mitigated.
As a single person, if you make under $47,000 a year, or about $65,000 for a couple, you can get plans starting around $250 a month, at least in my state. There are no pre-existing conditions, so you can't be denied coverage.
It won't be the Cadillac insurance that CONGRESS GETS, but at least it's something.
I think if these Teaparty red state Congress people had any guts, they would refuse to participate in the coverage offered to the Senate and the House.
I bet not one of them would be willing to give up their OWN government health coverage, but they don't mind calling it socialist Marxism if the rest of us want a policy 1/4 as good as theirs.
I in Ohio...... and I feel we're not far behind......stupid .....kinda like cutting off your nose to spite your face...
ReplyDeleteMy girlfriend has no insurance...... we think she has the Cancer......just hoping this all goes into effect before it's too late......too bad these assholes weren't in my shoes
I'm so sorry to hear about your girlfriend.
DeleteI'm sorry as well. But on a more positive note, my girlfriend had cancer as well and she is clean now. It CAN be beaten!
DeleteHang in there!
And good luck.
Nice to see my home state being featured for some GOOD news for a change!
ReplyDeleteOf course, it's not good news for the RWNJs who have been telling scary stories about the dreaded Obamacare to everyone who will listen. As usual, the President sees the big picture and thinks ten steps down the road, while the GOP is still stuck in the 1950s. By 2016, more and more people will support ACA as the provisions go into effect, and the GOP will lose one more weapon against the Democrats. Poor, cranky babies!
Repeal Obamacare.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope more states opt out
Great work by legislators and governors
In those states that have opted out already
Take back our country.
You must have a very low IQ
DeleteTake back our country? From who? Idiot.
DeleteKeep paying those high rates troll. The rest of us intelligent people in the blue states will happily pay less and have more money for enjoying life!
DeleteDo tell who is taking our country...and where has it gone that we need to retrieve it?
DeleteYeah, take back our country and hand over our health to the insurance companies who let people die every single day. Heaven forbid the richest nation on Earth should want to have healthy people working in it. Heaven forbid we ensure that all our kids get vaccinations to keep them and those around them from getting sick. I suppose you;re thrilled that the kids in your kids' school who qualify for school lunch may not be getting their booster shits, thus exposing YOUR kids to measles, mumps, or worse? Grow up. Think.This is a good law...for all of us. Stop buying the insurance company crap..they and the GOP are only interested in profits.
Delete$arah, you griftin' fraud piece of shit, just because you live off the back of government healthcare ( being "married" to a needle dicked, tenor voiced, 1/4 Alaska native ) leaves out the rest of us paying our astronomical insurance premiums with massive deductables for minimal service, and this Alaskan for one is sick and tired of it.
Deleteso do mankind a HUGE favor >> fuk_off and die, eh
Still stupid, I see.
DeleteFunny thing about that opt out. States can only opt out of Medicaid expansion.
DeleteThey can,t opt out of the exchanges,if the state won't set them up the Federal Government moves in and does it for them.
Phyllis from AR.
Gryphen, correct me if I'm wrong but don't you have the option of participating in a federal exchange?
ReplyDeleteAssuming Gryphen makes what I do annually, the Federal Exchange will be around $600 per month. That's around half a mortgage or a new car payment plus insurance. Not many can find that sort of cash if you make less than 50 grand per year.
DeleteIt'll be interesting to see what South Dakota residents say when they hear what North Dakotans are paying under the ACA. Same with Virginia, next to Maryland and West Virginia.
ReplyDeleteSome of these red states are not within spitting distance of an ACA state, but they'll have relatives and friends who are getting better care for less money elsewhere.
A year or two from now, most states will have adopted it, and, a generation from now, it will be as much a part of the landscape as is Medicare.
I hope all these red state residents give up their government-paid Medicare, by the way, just to be consistent.
That could start with you, Sarah Palin: please tell your parents not to submit Medicare reimbursement claims. And you must stop getting Todd's Native American benefits. Otherwise, you're a huge hypocrite.
Look in the mirror.
As a NYer I am so thankful this morning.. RW hyperbole aside; this WILL save lives!
ReplyDeleteAnd reduce pain and suffering, for less money.
DeleteSounds like a win-win to me!
The Washington Post published this calculator some time ago. Gives some idea of the cost of health insurance premiums purchased in the ACA Marketplace.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/what-health-bill-means-for-you/
Exactly.
ReplyDeleteIf ACA is good then President Obama MAY BE "good" after all.
Fuck you, Sarah Palin and your death panels you sick cunt!!
I hate you.
Say, Gryphen, did you read the news today that the House of Reprehensitives passed a procedural rule change that REQUIRES them to pass a law repealing Obamacare EVERY day the august body is in session, in perpetuity? It will come right after they say the pledge of allegience and the chaplain reads his daily benediction and just before the daily call for Obama's impeachment.
ReplyDeleteIt's becoming quite the tradition.
ACA is saving people money and affordable health insurance is within the average American people's reach. This is what the Bagger nut jobs just won't tolerate.
ReplyDeleteThey're scum, pure and simple.
Alaskans will be at the mercy of the Federal Exchange and for me and my husband it will be cheaper to pay the penalty than have insurance. Bummer, guess we'll have to wait until we're 65 for Medicare.
ReplyDeleteWatch, Republicans will stop calling it Obamacare now, because it's good. All of a sudden, it will be called ACA by them.
ReplyDelete