"Trump administration's own actions are triggering double-digit premium increases..."

[CousinIT]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s own actions are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many consumers, a nonpartisan study has found.

The analysis released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that mixed signals from President Donald Trump have created uncertainty “far outside the norm,” leading insurers to seek higher premium increases for 2018 than would otherwise have been the case.

The report comes with Republicans in Congress unable to deliver on their promise to repeal and replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. Trump, meanwhile, insists lawmakers try again. The president says “Obamacare” is collapsing, but he’s also threatened to give it a shove by stopping billions of dollars in payments to insurers. Some leading Republicans are considering fallback measures to stabilize markets.

Researchers from the Kaiser foundation looked at proposed premiums for a benchmark silver plan across major metropolitan areas in 20 states and Washington, D.C. Overall, they found that 15 of those cities will see increases of 10 percent or more next year.

The highest: a 49 percent jump in Wilmington, Delaware. The only decline: a 5 percent reduction in Providence, Rhode Island.

About 10 million people who buy policies through HealthCare.gov and state-run markets are potentially affected, as well as another 5 million to 7 million who purchase individual policies on their own.

https://apnews.com/cc6b335865e24a4b843dc0e2c4cc6c7a/Study:-Trump-actions-trigger-health-premium-hikes-for-2018

[Not Ruth]

1. What would have been the increase or decrease without Trump?

[BASE]

2. Probably exactly the same

ACA is unfinished work. He doesn't have to do shit except to stop throwing extra money at it and it will fall apart.

[tazkcmo]

4. Nope.

It won't "fall apart" if the insurance companies are reimbursed the billions they are owed since 2014 for the high risk pools that the GOP led Congress failed to pay as promised in the ACA.

What is this "extra money" you speak of?

[BASE]

5. Thats exactly what I mean

They have not been paid and if they aren't things will fall apart quickly I'm afraid. They either pull out or pass the cost on to us. I think this was their backup plan if they couldn't repeal.

[green917]

6. It wasn't their backup

This was the plan all along.

[PasadenaTrudy]

14. Interesting user name ya got there....n/t

[Cracklin Charlie]

3. Medicare for everyone!

[DK504]

7. Every single thing this guy does is a disaster for Americans.

Everything. He's a walking dumpster of shit on fire.

[Alice11111]

11. For America, & the world.

[BigmanPigman]

8. I called Blue Shield of CA on Monday and she verified the CA increase of 12.5%.

I told her I made several hundred phone calls to Congress since Jan. about this and she laughed. What an idiot! I told her I was serious and was met with dead silence.

Now my health care plus out of pocket costs (include in very expensive meds) will be 45% of my income. This is with subsidies which the fake prez is threatening to stop since he is pissed off at Obama and hates losing. On the bright side...I still am able to get insurance and won't lose my home and will only lose all of my savings.

They will never go to single payer since the money from lobbyists in health insurance and big pharm is filling their mattresses.

[Alice11111]

9. I'm sorry. That happened to me too.

I mortgaged all assets & therefore no equity, sold everything possible, went through savings, withdrew from retirement, & drastically downgraded my lifestyle, which was never on the high end. I guess I rode it out for a while. I'm lucky I had assets to liquidate, destroy, maybe.
Mine was medical & insurance related, some before Obamacare. I got on Obamacare Day 1, which helped with premiums, but I still had large out of pockets costs for the 20pc uncovered expenses.
For Rx, now, I usually take 1/2 or less than the dosage.

Actually, I think there are many, many people like me. We represent the middle class, who worked hard, paid off student loans, saved for retirement & put kids through college. Now, we are not really middle class, but on the edge, with a omnipresent background anxiety. Will we make it? What if this or that? No wiggle room. I cannot see my way clear, so I just carry on, in a diminished way.

It really does impact everything, relationships, friendships, enjoyment of life, private space, health, on and on.

Try to compartmentalize. Do all you can to fight the war on the middle class, poor & disabled, as you are bravely doing.
Then, sometimes put it on the back burner, and find a few escapes to enjoy life. Geez, if it were so easy to follow advice as to give it.

[BigmanPigman]

15. I turned my half empty into a half full...

It sucks that we save like we are supposed to and we "go without" all our lives. No eating out, new clothes, re-decorating, buying new cars, going on vacations, going to movies, manicures, jewelry, etc. Last September I checked myself into the hospital since nobody could diagnose my SEVERE pain in my upper abdomen and back for over two months. Turns our 3/4 of my pancreas is scar tissue and it will kill me. I will need surgeries to help reduce pain since meds aren't strong enough. So I need the ACA for the surgeries or my 83 year old parents would lose their savings after I lose my home (all 550 Sq feet).
I am OK with dying but not the pain part and I would rather the humane society get my home than the hospital bills. I hope it happens fast, fast, fast but only after I see the Donald. Pence, Ryan, and McConnell and the GOP go down too. That way I can die in peace. When I know it is coming soon I plan on going off my lifelong diet and gaining 25-50 pounds my last month alive. There IS a silver lining after all.

[Alice11111]

16. Whew...that is tough.

There are indigent funds. Bankruptcy, but some states can take your house, depending on your situationand a lot of factors. Theoretically, your homestead is exempt, but most states have limited it.

I know all my friends and family, and myself, have contemplated it in the face of serious illness and poverty or dependency. Often, things work out in ways we never imagined or we can manage and feel fortunate, compared to others, who have it far worse and less control, Syria. I'm helping my mother make some choices. None of us will live forever, but it's nice that many of us have a little control about how we go.

[SHRED]

10. Sabotaged by the GOP

[meow2u3]

12. We wouldn't have steep premium increases if Trump didn't choose to play games w/healthcare

The fact that the Toxic Tangerine decided to toy with people's lives by injecting CSR uncertainty is what cause the premium spikes. He's actively and illegally sabotaging the ACA for purely sadistic reasons.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. Get out while the gettin' is good

It was said of someone famous who passed this week.

Is it rational to extend one's life while the political system of one's country is being destroyed?

yeah, I have no healthcare. probably never will.