NYT : Insurance premiums could spike as much as 40 percent next year

[Celerity]

Coronavirus May Add Billions to U.S. Health Care Bill

Insurance premiums could spike as much as 40 percent next year, a new analysis warns, as employers and insurers confront the projected tens of billions of dollars in additional costs of treating coronavirus patients.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/health/coronavirus-insurance-premium-increases.html



With so much still uncertain about how widespread hospitalizations for coronavirus patients will be around the United States, a new analysis says premiums could increase as much as 40 percent next year if the pandemic results in millions of Americans needing hospital stays.

“Health plans went into 2020 with no hint of coronavirus on the horizon,” said Peter V. Lee, the executive director of Covered California, the state insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, which conducted the analysis. To protect businesses and individuals from sharply higher rates, he supports a temporary federal program that would cover some of these costs. “No insurer, no state, planned and put money away for something of this significance,” Mr. Lee said.

So far, some 94,000 people have become infected in the United States, according to official counts, and at least 1,400 have died. In New York state alone, nearly 1,600 patients were in intensive-care units as of Friday morning and the numbers have been rising all week. Mr. Lee’s organization estimated the total cost to the commercial insurance market, which represents the coverage currently offered to 170 million workers and individuals through private health plans. The analysis does not include costs for people enrolled in government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Depending on how many people need care, insurers, employers and individuals could face anywhere from $34 billion to $251 billion in additional expenses from the testing and treatment of Covid-19. according to the analysis. At the high end, the virus would add 20 percent or more to current costs of roughly $1.2 trillion a year. “There’s a lot we don’t know,” Mr. Lee said. “These are ranges.” While the bill before Congress would provide hospitals some financial relief, it may not result in any change to how much hospitals charge private insurers and employers for care, he said.

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updated numbers on the US

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