Jackson Jambalaya

The San Francisco Chronicle reported consumers were surprised at the cost of health insurance premiums under Obamacare:

Shelly Ross of San Francisco was looking forward to the opening of the new health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act because she was hoping to get a better deal.

But now that she's seen her options, Ross is disappointed. Turns out she earns slightly too much money to qualify for federal financial aid to help her buy coverage in the state's exchange, called Covered California. And because policies have to be upgraded to comply with the new law, her rates are going up nearly 10 percent.

"Every plan is going to cost more than what I pay now. And what I pay now is ridiculous," said Ross, 47, who owns a cat-sitting business called Tales of the Kitty and pays more than $400 a month for her insurance. "It's a great thing for some people, but it's certainly not helping me."

Ross is among the millions of Americans who buy coverage on their own, but must find new coverage because the health law has rendered their current policies outdated. But Ross, like many others, is not finding the plans sold through the Affordable Care Act to be particularly affordable.

"People who had plans before Obamacare will certainly see some increases in those rates because of those essential benefits that are now required," said Brian Mast, spokesman for eHealth in Mountain View, the largest online health insurance broker in the country.

But Mast said the changes will allow many people who have been locked out of coverage because of their health backgrounds the chance to finally get insurance.

"It's definitely going to be beneficial for all those people who have been waiting, and these are going to be the people who enroll first," he said. Rest of article

Mort Zuckerman popped up on Bloomberg TV to discuss Obamacare as well. The publisher of US News & World Report said Obamacare will be a disaster for workers:



However, Bruce Japsen writes over at Forbes Obamacare is increasing competition through the use of exchanges:

Despite critics who said consumer choice of health insurance plans would be lacking on the newly launched marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act, competition is “robust,” particularly in markets where Republican-leaning states decided against operating their own exchanges, industry analysts and insurers say.

Under the law, benefits packages offered to individuals on exchanges, or marketplaces, are run by states or the federal government. Eligible uninsured individuals will receive subsidies of up to about $5,000 to buy private coverage that begins Jan. 1, 2014. Consumers got their first glimpse of plan offerings last Tuesday, October 1, for the beginning of open enrollment, which runs through March of next year.

More than 30 of the exchanges are run by the federal government in large part because of opposition by Republican governors or state legislatures to the health law. Such resistance, however, hasn’t stopped health insurance plans from participating, or offering a menu of options for the uninsured.

“The federally-facilitated marketplace landscape reveals meaningful competition among issuers and a variety of plan options for consumers to choose among,” Dan Mendelson, chief executive officer of Avalere Health, a research and advisory services firm on health policy issues tracking the Affordable Care Act, said following a report it released on health plan participation.

Avalere said the government’s file of health plan offerings on the so-called “federally-facilitated marketplace” shows “robust issuer participation, with the vast majority of states having four or more issuers offering plans” in the individual market on the new exchanges.

The Obama administration said such competition has helped premiums be about 16 percent lower than earlier estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Consumers choose from an average of 53 health plans from the federal marketplace and have a choice of at least two insurance companies.

An Avalere analysis of the top 13 states “by expected enrollment,” released last week, showed a Blue Cross plan in eight of the 13 states and a national plan operated by either Humana HUM +2.29% (HUM) or Aetna AET +3.44% (AET) and its Coventry Health Care CVH NaN% subsidiary in two of the 13 states. Avalere looked at Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

“Consumers in many states will find options from Blues plans and national carriers competing alongside local, regional, and provider-sponsored insurers,” Mendelson said. Rest of article

However, the health care reporter for Forbes doesn't cite any real evidence such is the case or the effects on premiums. Stay tuned.