health insurance premiums

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Survey Finds 'Huge' Spike in Employee Health Insurance Costs

Job-related health insurance premiums now reflecting inflation pressures

(Newser) - Bad news on the inflation front: The cost of employee health insurance saw its biggest annual increase in more than a decade this year. The average annual premium for family health insurance climbed 7% from 2022 for the biggest annual increase since 2011, per the Wall Street Journal . The cost...

ObamaCare Premiums Rise Sharply for 2nd Year in a Row

Most popular plans up by an average of 34%

(Newser) - Premiums for the most popular ObamaCare plans are going up an average of 34%, according to a study released Wednesday that confirms dire predictions about the impact of political turmoil on consumers. Window-shopping on HealthCare.gov went live Wednesday, so across the country consumers going online can see the consequences...

CBO: Trump's Health Strategy Would Hike Costs 20% in 2018

If president stops ObamaCare subsidies, premiums will rise dramatically for 'silver' plan

(Newser) - People buying individual health-care policies would face higher premiums, and some may be left with no insurance options, if President Trump makes good on his threat to stop ObamaCare payments to insurers. That's the conclusion of a new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the AP reports. More...

Trump Rips ObamaCare, Raises Questions on Himself in Process

Seems to imply at Miami campaign event he doesn't offer health care coverage to his own workers

(Newser) - The news that ObamaCare premiums are going to significantly rise next year didn't put many people in the best of moods Tuesday, and Donald Trump was no exception. First he said "it's over" for the administration's health care plan at a rally in Tampa, Fla., Monday...

ObamaCare Premiums Are Going to Soar Next Year

'It's over for ObamaCare,' Trump says

(Newser) - Premiums will go up sharply next year under President Obama's health care law, and many consumers will be down to just one insurer, the administration confirmed Monday. That's sure to stoke another ObamaCare controversy days before a presidential election, the AP reports. Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a...

Way, Way Over Budget: ObamaCare Subsidies

And studies find that it's increased premiums

(Newser) - ObamaCare appears to be on pace to cost the federal government a lot more than it was counting on. So far, the government is on pace to sink $11 billion into subsidies for consumers who bought coverage on the federal insurance exchange, according to a new report from the Department...

Screw ObamaCare, I Want My Dog's Insurance

Eric Wee says his dog gets far better health care than he does

(Newser) - When doctors found a bulge on Nelson's abdomen, they gave him an ultrasound and a CT scan, gave him a blood transfusion, and surgically removed the tumor, and insurance covered 90% of it, less a $500 deductible. And, as you've guessed by reading the headline, Nelson is a...

Obama Pushes Back 2015 Health Care Enrollment

Until after the midterm elections, coincidentally

(Newser) - The Obama administration plans to push back the start of next year's ObamaCare enrollment period by a month, from Oct. 15, 2014 to Nov. 15—which would just happen to push it to after the midterm elections, Bloomberg reports. The idea, ostensibly, is to give insurers more time to...

Health Exchanges Pretty Lousy for Rural Customers

Competition is low, and prices are high

(Newser) - ObamaCare's technical difficulties are well-documented—the House is dragging four contractors in to talk about them today—but it has one problem no web developer can solve: It's pretty lousy in rural areas. The theory behind the Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplace is that forcing insurers...

Big Tobacco, Anti-Smoking Groups Target ObamaCare

They don't want smokers charged more for insurance

(Newser) - Big Tobacco and anti-cancer activists are lining up against a provision in ObamaCare that would let insurers charge smokers more, the Washington Post reports. It's no small spike, either: One study found that a low-income smoker could see premiums leap from $708 to $3,308. "Our concern is...

Health Insurers Raise Rates Bigtime Despite ObamaCare

California, Florida, and Ohio see double-digit increases

(Newser) - America's health insurers are raising rates by up to 26% despite the fact that President Obama was dead-set on curbing such increases, the New York Times reports. California's Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna, and Blue Shield of California have proposed increases of 26%, 22%, and 20%, respectively, on certain...

Health Report: Same Test Can Cost $786—or $1,819

Choice of provider could have big effect on your premiums

(Newser) - Yet another factor that could put a crimp in your wallet when it comes to health care: The cost of procedures such as colonoscopies, mammograms, and Pap smears vary wildly across the nation, according to a new report picked up by USA Today . Researchers found that colonoscopies, for instance, could...

Health Care Costs for Family of 4 to Top $20K This Year

That's up 7% from last year, say analysts

(Newser) - Health care costs for a family of four covered on an employer's insurance plan are expected to exceed $20,000 this year, an increase of 7% from last year—and more than double the $9,235 it would set you back in 2002. Under such plans, employers pay a...

Health Insurance Rate Hikes May Reach 80% in California

That's a cumulative increase of three hikes since October

(Newser) - Ouch. Blue Shield of California is requesting another rate hike to go into effect in May. Coming on the heels of two others in October and January, it would bring the cumulative increase in premiums to 50% for more for 45,500 customers and 80% or more for about 900,...

McD's: We'll Dump Worker Plans Over Health Reform

Chain wants waiver from 'mini-med' spending rules

(Newser) - McDonald's is threatening to drop employee health insurance because of new federal health care regulations requiring it to spend at least $4 out of every $5 its plan receives on health benefits. Mickey D's says that the requirement, meant to force companies to spend money on actual worker benefits rather...

Companies Shift Health Costs to Employees

Even as insurance premium growth slows

(Newser) - Employers foisted a lot more health insurance costs onto their employees this year than last, even though premiums only inched upwards, according to an annual survey. Though premiums for businesses rose just 3% this year—their lowest increase in a decade—the cost the average employee was paying jumped 14%,...

Health Insurance Execs Cash In, Jack Premiums

Those heading 5 biggest companies took home $200M

(Newser) - As their companies slammed policyholders with double-digit rate increases, top executives at the nation's five largest insurance companies gave themselves hefty raises last year, pulling in a total of almost $200 million. Of the heads of Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group, WellPoint, and Aetna, only one took a paycut—Aetna's CEO...

Obama to Insurers: Don't You Dare Jack Premiums

Parts of health care reform kick in

(Newser) - With parts of the health care reform law about to go into effect, President Obama has called executives from 13 leading insurers to Washington for a stern lecture about rate gouging. Obama is afraid the insurers will use the law as an excuse to jack up premiums. “Our message...

Health Reform Bill Won't Stop Premium Hikes

Action on curbs didn't make final cut, leaving 'very big loophole'

(Newser) - Turns out the big health care reform bill doesn't actually rein in those out-of-control premium rate hikes. The Democrats used outrage over whopping increases to corral support for the overhaul, but the bill doesn't deliver, finds the Los Angeles Times , because it doesn't give the government the regulatory authority. "...

Oregon Tests New Approach to Health Insurance

Proven treatments are almost free, while others cost a bundle

(Newser) - A new type of insurance being tried out in Oregon has a great upside: free treatment for common maladies like diabetes or depression that have proven treatments. But if you wade into muddier or more elective treatments that critics say are overused, like knee replacement or bypass surgery, it’ll...

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