Well, it’s been nearly three months since the beginning of the new year, a time when several of the new Obamacare mandates went into effect. The word that best describes the real world effect of these mandates on premiums for small employers is, “shock.”
Yesterday I received a quote from a well-known health insurance company for a three person group that was out of this world. The group, like most, had a few pre-existing conditions, but the three employees were working full-time. The lowest bid, with a $10,000 deductible, was $2500.00 a month. An HMO plan, with no/low deductible was $10,000 a month. A non-profit competitor with a similar high-deductible plan was $900.00 less a month, yet still too high to be affordable.
The huge increase in premiums for these groups is of course very concerning, but what concerns me more is the huge difference in premiums be quoted from one health insurer to the next. A couple of hundred dollars difference was the norm for similar products, but never as much as a $3000 a month difference. This difference in premium makes clear the fact that health insurance companies in Arizona really don’t know the complete downside to Obamacare, but they know it’s bad and are trying to survive.
Trying to survive will be a waste of time and effort if Obamacare remains the law of the land. From the beginning it was designed to put health insurance companies out of business and force everyone into Medicaid. Just yesterday a Democrat congressman said as much, Obamacare being a stepping stone to a single-payer system.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769