Blue Cross Blue Shield: “Unusually large rate increases” ahead as a result of #ObamaCare

Via the Raleigh News and Observer (bolded emphasis added by me):

In a signpost pointing to health insurance changes under the nation’s new health care law, North Carolina’s largest insurer has warned of steep rate increases for customers who have typically paid below-average premiums.

A third of Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s customers who buy individual policies – or about 125,000 residents – should prepare for unusually large rate increases, according to the Chapel Hill company. The remaining quarter-million customers who buy individual policies will see increases in line with previous years.

The rate plans are anticipated as a barometer of North Carolina’s emerging health care landscape that will take shape under the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 federal law that takes effect in less than seven months.

The law is expected to extend coverage to 1.6 million North Carolinians who are uninsured, many of whom are presumed to be in worse health than those with access to regular medical care.

Blue Cross policies and costs are expected to set an industry standard, influencing how insurers adjust to the law and what that law will mean for those who have had insurance and those who have not been able to afford coverage previously and will now be buying it for the first time.

[…]

However, Blue Cross did disclose that insurance costs for employees who work for businesses with 1 to 50 employees will rise about 18 percent in 2014 because of increased coverage and benefits, as well as eight new taxes and fees in the Affordable Care Act. But the effects on small businesses are so wide-ranging that they will result in reductions as deep as 41 percent and increases as high as 284 percent.

β€œMore sick people in the insurance pool, more benefits, and new taxes and fees will drive rates up,” Blue Cross said in a statement.

Hate to say We Toldjah So, but …

Think the boneheads who voted for our Socialist in Chief to get re-elected will finally realize the error of their ways after their insurance premiums drastically go up (if they haven’t already), which may force them to sign up for a cheaper plan (as I did) , apply for some type of Β “government health care coverage” plan, or pay the non-insured penalty? Don’t count on it. Liberals are notorious for trying the same thing over and over again, getting the same failed result over and over again, and thinking if they try it just ONE MORE TIME …… #FAIL l-)

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