Obamacare Sticker Shock: It's Real and It's Going to Hurt Millions

Obamacare’s apologists claim that the policy is working, it just needs better PR.

So, they plan all along then was to jack up insurance rates for millions after promising that our healthcare costs would go down?

Detroit News:

Washington— Health care costs are expected to rise in 2014 for many workers, including those at one Royal Oak company, because of new, obscure federal fees and taxes imposed on insurers and employers.

Across the nation, the fees and taxes imposed next year through the Affordable Care Act will generate about $20 billion, based on Joint Committee on Taxation estimates, and could affect nearly 60 percent of Americans who receive insurance through their workplace.

It’s uncertain how many employees could pay the higher fees and taxes because employers are deciding whether to absorb the cost or pass along all or part of it. For example, Oakland County government decided to pick up the tab — more than $600,000 — for its workers. Macomb and Wayne county officials could not be reached about their plans.

That $600,000 probably means the company will hire fewer people.

The New York Times:

Until now, it was almost impossible for people using the federal health care website to see the deductible amounts, which consumers pay before coverage kicks in. But federal officials finally relented last week and added a “window shopping” feature that displays data on deductibles.

For policies offered in the federal exchange, as in many states, the annual deductible often tops $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a couple.

Insurers devised the new policies on the assumption that consumers would pick a plan based mainly on price, as reflected in the premium. But insurance plans with lower premiums generally have higher deductibles.

In El Paso, Tex., for example, for a husband and wife both age 35, one of the cheapest plans on the federal exchange, offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, has a premium less than $300 a month, but the annual deductible is more than $12,000. For a 45-year-old couple seeking insurance on the federal exchange in Saginaw, Mich., a policy with a premium of $515 a month has a deductible of $10,000.

And many are getting higher premiums and higher deductibles. Basically, they’re being put on the same kind of plans that President Obama derides as “bad apples” when it suits him.