U.S. health insurers to pay $330 million in premium rebates
Source: Reuters
U.S. health insurers will send out about $330 million in rebates to employers and individuals this summer under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday.
The law, often called Obamacare, requires insurance companies to refund customers when they spend less than 80 percent or 85 percent of healthcare premiums they collect for medical care.
The rebates will go to about 6.8 million people and have a value of about $80 per family. They are to be sent by Aug. 1 either directly to consumers or to the employer providing the health coverage, who is required to pass the savings onto employees, the agency said in a report.
The total rebate figure is less than last year, when the insurers were told to send out $500 million under the law. The decline is a trend that the government said shows that more insurers are charging lower premiums than they would have if the law was not passed.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/24/us-usa-healthcare-insurance-idUSKBN0FT09F20140724
pipoman
(16,038 posts)Have to actually inventory merchandise investments..
IronLionZion
(45,442 posts)that percentage includes salaries for their workers.
candelista
(1,986 posts)But we can't have medicare for all because that would be... socialism!
IronLionZion
(45,442 posts)HHS, IRS, SSA, and other entities also have plenty of administrative costs as part of the Medicare system, and the states have plenty of costs for administering Medicaid. And there are around 150,000 contractors in the program.
Look, I support a Medicare for all single payer system too, but their admin costs are much higher than you think. An educated guess would put it closer to 7%, which seems small until you think about the massive size of the Medicare program. We are bigger and cover more patients than any insurance company can even dream about.
Just think about what sort of people who would be processing your claims in a single payer system. Oh yes, it would be people like me! And I'm obviously DUing at work!
pipoman
(16,038 posts)Etc to come out.
Botany
(70,504 posts).... it is working and they know all their lies are gonna be exposed.
IronLionZion
(45,442 posts)as more Americans benefit from the PPACA, there will be more political support for bigger reforms in the future.
candelista
(1,986 posts)How do you know that? They don't seem scared to me. They should be as happy as a dog with two dicks.
IronLionZion
(45,442 posts)They shut down the government in an idiotic attempt to stop people from signing up.
You can see the comments on any mainstream media news article, or any conservative forum. They don't like it at all and claim it is a socialist vote buying scheme.
candelista
(1,986 posts)They do the same thing on undocumented immigration, which the GOP really loves (because cheap labor) but pretends to hate.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)The propaganda onslaught for the middleman multiplication and profit protection act has been an astonishing success. Notice how many duers have fallen in love with the worst healthcare system in the world. A good word for this would be disgusting.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)conservatives must be pissed.
bigdarryl
(13,190 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)Parade, meet Manny the Rain-Bringer. Manny, Parade. Get to know each other, pack some ponchos, and tarps for the floats.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)So what's your point?
jamzrockz
(1,333 posts)But for geeze, this is just the first year. Have a little faith
riqster
(13,986 posts)And their receipt of said rebate is due entirely to the ACA.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)For instance, relativity is an example of useful perspective: one that enabled math and physics to make quantum leaps, if you'll pardon a really terrible pun.
But a relentless, partisan, ideological, personalized, emotion-based perspective is not of equal utility.
Bill USA
(6,436 posts)NOte: MLR is the Medical Loss Ratio or how much the insurance companies pay out to policyholders to pay for covered medical costs relative to the insurance companies revenues - i.e. total premiums charged.
... from the same article ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/24/us-usa-healthcare-insurance-idUSKBN0FT09F20140724
(emphases my own)
The total rebate figure is less than last year, when the insurers were told to send out $500 million under the law. The decline is a trend that the government said shows that more insurers are charging lower premiums than they would have if the law was not passed.
The healthcare law was passed in 2010 and the medical loss ratio, or MLR, portion of the law was first applied in full in 2011. It limits spending on administrative costs, salaries and bonuses. Other portions of the law went into effect this year, including the creation of exchanges to sell insurance to individuals as well as the expansion of Medicaid.
[font size="3"]If insurance companies had maintained the 2011 ratio of premiums relative to the cost of medical care, consumers would have spent $3.8 billion more in additional premiums in 2013[/font], the health agency said.
but that is NOT the whole story. Let's not forget the premiums charged by insurance companies. The ACA has reduced the rate of increase of health care costs (the bending of the cost curve).
Affordable Care Act will produce savings for a family of four of ~$2500 by 2016
(all emphases my own)
NOte that if you convert the $2,500 for a family of four to an aggregate figure that's a savings of about $3 Trillion - or about 6.6% savings as a percent of the aggregate Health care cost figure.
But what were Republicans predicting for Health care costs with the ACA in place?
For some more perspective lets examine what Republicans have been saying about the affect of the ACA on Healthcare costs. Chris Conover (an "Adjunct Scholar" at American Enterprise Institute), writing not a year ago, in Forbes Magazine stated the Affordable Care act would ADD $7,450 to the Healthcare costs for a typical family of four.
Obamacare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four
I'm happy to go with the estimate of the Office of the Actuaries at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - which is a savings - in 2016 - of $3 Trillion - or a 6.6% savings.
DhhD
(4,695 posts)in a pool, and made interest off of it, instead of using your money to provide health care.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)An absolute travesty
Stuart G
(38,427 posts)underpants
(182,803 posts)conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)Don't trust anyone who should shit on it as far as I can throw them.
And with my sciatica in overdrive... it's not very far.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)...and even dimes are badly needed by some families.
libodem
(19,288 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)It is sickening that dems are celebrating this
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)The Gov. gets a refund from the insurance corp?
My premiums are lower because some 'for profit' hospital/Doctor can't charge its insurance corp buddie $100 for a 3 cent band-aid , and get away with the price gouge scam.