Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pct
Source: AP-Excite
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
WASHINGTON (AP) - Insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts has estimated.
That's likely to increase premiums for at least some Americans buying individual plans.
The report by the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act.
While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report concluded the overwhelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance markets, where people purchase coverage directly from insurers.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130326/DA592UUO1.html
Why do I not trust these numbers?
In this March 23, 2010 file photo, Marcelas Owens of Seattle, left, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., right, and others, look on as President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Medical claims costs _ the biggest driver of health insurance premiums _ will jump an average 32 percent for individual policies under President Barack Obama’s overhaul, according to a study by the nation’s leading group of financial risk analysts. Recently released to its members, the report from the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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Happy to have confirmation that 1. The sky is NOT falling, and 2. We are in fact likely to see benefits of Obamacare.
I'm an attorney, don't do numbers much, but recognize their importance. How'd it go with tort reform?
beginning in 1987. The attorney who was my boss was reasonably liberal and fairly tough on compliance with the insurance industry. He left in 1989 and the project floundered its way with a lady who was nice but more moderate. She did not have any administrative skills or legal experience and I was definitely to the left of her on tort reform. She was about 40 years old and I was in my 20's, but I actually was equally qualified for the manager position otherwise.
We finally hired some "real" actuaries in the early 1990's and I worked with the chief actuary and his staff of about five people during 1995 when tort reform took prominence again. During that session caps were placed on public liability insurance limiting settlements to $250,000 and also on medical malpractice where again caps were established on both physicians and hospitals. There were also overall caps on non-economic damages that limited recoveries to a multiple of the economic damages. We supposedly saved Texas insurance consumers over $2 billion in premiums when that legislation was passed.
While I working there, I reviewed the individual claim reports (over 10,000 commercial liability claims per year), created and administered a special data call for private auto insurance and produced the annual report to the legislature. I read all of the court verdicts that were sent in with the claim reports to verify that the allocation of damages (eco, non-eco, exemplary, pre-judgment interest) conformed with what was stated in the verdicts. Usually, the insurance companies tried to manipulate the data and classify the losses as non-economic in nature in order to bolster the argument that tort reform was needed, so I would contact the insurance companies to make corrections on the reports.
In a few instances, I had to read appellate and Texas Supreme Court decisions to develop spreadsheets to verify the calculations so I also waded deep into issues such as comparative responsibility and joint & several liability. I also had to amend our annual report to the Legislature as the new caps were enacted into law. For someone with a degree in math and a minor in chemistry, I really stepped out of the comfort zone becoming familiar with tort law, knowledge of various medical maladies and computer programming. I rewrote the original edit programs that checked the claims reports into COBOL in 1993 and later converted the entire system into Microsoft Access in 1999 since the system was not Y2K compliant. I left the insurance department in 2000, but I know that they are still using the Microsoft Access system that I developed more than a decade later.
I know that more tort reforms were passed in 2002 and I'm concerned that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of the defendants. My personal opinion is that if a party is either liable or negligent so that someone is injured, then they should bear the responsibility of paying for that injury. Otherwise, the burden of taking care of those unfortunate to be injured will be passed along through the government social services which we both know are underfunded anyway (particularly in Texas).
THANKS, for me and those you served!
What got to me was the amount of public exposure--initially, it was time spent inside the Capitol. Towards the end of my stint I was conducting training classes for claim adjusters. Answering questions from forty claim adjusters while in suit & tie, wearing a microphone, and then delivering the message with a teleconference squawk box behind me was uncomfortable for me since I don't care for public speaking. Everytime that I turned around to look at the projection screen the reverb on the squawk box sent everybody's nerves into a tizzy. That's a lot to ask for somebody drawing a statistician's salary.
