This Is How Much Trump's Obamacare Sabotage Increased Health Insurance Costs

President Donald Trump’s decision to cut off billions of dollars owed to health insurance providers under the Affordable Care Act caused those companies to substantially increase premiums to cover their losses, according to an analysis published Friday. Enrollment on health insurance exchanges like HealthCare.gov begins Nov. 1 and runs until Dec. 15 in most states; a few have later deadlines. Consumers who use these exchanges or purchase their coverage directly from a health insurance company or through a broker can expect to see large rate hikes when they shop for plans. Prices already were set to rise before Trump’s action exacerbated the problem. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation studied documents that health insurance carriers submitted to regulators in 32 states and the District of Columbia. These documents detail price changes for health insurance policies and the justification for those changes. Among those states, Trump’s action caused premium increases that range from 7 percent to 38 percent higher than they would have been for mid-level “Silver” health plans, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported. The analysis includes numerous examples of how specific insurers dealt with Trump’s decision to deny their reimbursements, based on information they provided to state insurance agencies. This month, Trump halted payments to health insurance companies serving low-income customers. These so-called cost-sharing reduction payments are intended to reimburse insurers that provide discounts on out-of-pocket costs for people earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, or $30,150 for a single person. The Affordable Care Act requires health insurance companies to reduce deductibles and other forms of cost-sharing for eligible enrollees. The federal government is supposed to repay the companies for the expense. The payments are worth $7 billion this year and $10 billion next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But Trump decided to cut off those funds. The spending to reimburse health insurance companies is the subject of a three-year-old legal dispute started by then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who alleged that then-President Barack Obama’s administration was unlawfully spending money Congress hadn’t authorized. Last year, a federal judge sided with House Republicans over Obama, but allowed the federal government to continue repaying insurers while the case worked its way through the appeals process. When Trump became president this year, his administration became the defendant in the case, and continued to make the payments until his announcement this month. After months of threatening to end the cost-sharing reduction payments, Trump followed through this month by stopping the payments and dropping the federal government’s appeal of the House GOP lawsuit. A group of state attorneys general has taken up the defense instead. As a consequence, health insurance companies are set to lose an equivalent amount of money because they are still required to reduce eligible customers’ out-of-pocket costs. Health insurance companies and most state governments anticipated that Trump might cut off this funding and adopted several strategies to prevent major financial losses and further disruption to the market. Some states and their insurers opted to only add supplementary premium increases to Silver plans, because those are the ones consumers must choose to receive discounts on out-of-pocket costs. In some cases, those extra price increases only apply to Silver plans sold on exchanges, which are the only places to receive financial assistance, and not on Silver plans bought outside the exchanges. Other insurers spread the increased costs across all types of insurance ― Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum ― either only on the exchanges or on and off the exchanges. Trump’s decision does not affect the availability of these cost-sharing reductions or subsidies on premiums for those who qualify. The tax credit subsidies available to reduce monthly premiums for those earning up to four times the poverty line ― or $48,240 for a single person ― largely shield eligible enrollees from price increases because they grow along with the price of Silver plans. Almost 6 million people, or 57 percent of exchange enrollees, qualified for cost-sharing reductions when they enrolled for 2017, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Ironically, Trump actually increased federal spending when he ended those payments to insurance companies. Because premium subsidies rise when prices rise, those bigger subsidies will cost taxpayers $194 billion over the coming decade, the Congressional Budget Office projects. But health insurance consumers who earn too much to qualify for subsidies will be forced to bear the full brunt of the rate increases. More than 80 percent of exchange enrollees received subsidies this year, but that still leaves millions inside and outside the exchanges who pay full price for their insurance. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced legislation this month to restore the cost-sharing reduction payments that is co-sponsored by an additional 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) plan to introduce a competing bill with no Democratic supporters. Trump has sent very mixed signals about his position on these efforts. A separate report published Wednesday outlined the overall landscape for health insurance prices on the exchanges next year in the 39 states that use the federally operated HealthCare.gov exchanges. For 2018, the average price increased 18 percent for Bronze plans, 34 percent for Silver plans, 16 percent for Gold plans and 24 percent for Platinum plans, according to the consulting firm Avalere Health. Across those 39 states, the average premium for a Silver plan ― by far the most popular option on the exchanges ― next year is $743, Avalere found. The average prices for Bronze, Gold and Platinum plans next year is $561, $831 and $1,125, respectively. The Huffington Post This Is How Much Trump's Obamacare Sabotage Increased Health Insurance Costs

After Trump's Obamacare moves, shopping for health insurance more baffling than ever

Cindy Purvance of Park City, Utah, was incensed when she received a letter in the mail, alerting her that her family's health insurance premium would skyrocket to $1,300 a month next year - a $500 increase. Purvance vented on social media, called her insurance company and eventually consulted with an expert who helps people sign up for health plans. She learned something counterintuitive: She would probably see a smaller increase if she bought the same kind of plan she currently has - but off the Affordable Care Act exchange. "We're in no-man's-land," said Purvance, 44, who makes too much money to qualify for federal assistance. "You know how it is with health insurance - it's so confusing. It becomes this game of: Which plan can I find that most of my doctors are on, and how much am I going to have to give up?" Shopping for health insurance has always been confusing. But consumers looking for coverage at the start of open enrollment on Nov. 1 face an especially baffling experience, and this year they will have less time and less help to reach a decision, because of funding cuts and rule changes. Insurance exchanges already battered by years of premium increases and insurer exits were thrown into further disarray by President Donald Trump's decision earlier this month to end federal payments that insurers use to offset discounted health plans for lower-income Americans. Insurance companies have tried to make up the difference for those payments in ways that vary state to state, and insurer by insurer - and are often baffling to the ordinary consumer. In some states, such as Maryland and Utah, insurance companies are loading increases onto silver on-exchange plans only. Other states are spreading the increases more broadly. "We call it an 'Alice in Wonderland' year, because things are upside down, things are very different," said Jason Stevenson, education and communications director at the nonpartisan Utah Health Policy Project, which helps Utahans access health insurance. "They're not following the normal laws of insurance physics." Silver plans - mid-level plans that aren't too expensive or too bare-bones - will see big premium hikes in many states, as insurance companies try to compensate for the loss of federal subsidies that helped underwrite those plans. In some cases, that could make silver plans more expensive even than gold plans, which provide more generous coverage. People like the Purvances who pay full price for their insurance will likely be unable to avoid paying more for their plans - which could discourage people from signing up. Robert Laszewski, a health policy consultant, said that insurance companies expect 20 percent of those who pay full price for their coverage to flee the market over the next year. One carrier described the situation to him in stark terms: "Our unsubsidized market is melting." Meanwhile, the lower-income Americans who would seem to be most at risk from Trump's decision to end the federal payments to insurers will largely be sheltered from paying more. They may even be able to pay very low premiums for minimal plans next year because of a second kind of federal subsidy, premium tax credits. But while $0 premiums may seem great, the plans typically carry giant deductibles that could catch people by surprise - and be far worse than their current coverage. And there won't be simple, universal rules of thumb, because the paradoxical effects will vary, state-by-state and insurer-by-insurer. "For those who thought it was a story when, several years ago, there were startup difficulties with the website, that's nothing compared with what we're going to see," said Gregg Bloche, a law professor at Georgetown University. "How can there not be chaos?" Some of those most caught up in the confusion will be people like the Purvances, who pay full freight for their insurance. About 6.7 million Americans buy plans that comply wtih the Affordable Care Act without subsidies, and many of them will confront situations where the mid-level plans could be more expensive than more generous ones. They also may need to pay attention to whether they're buying on the marketplace or off, because prices could vary. In Utah, where insurers made up the difference from losing cost-sharing reductions by increasing premiums for silver plans, people like the Purvances will need to comparison shop. Premiums for a silver plan sold on the exchange in Utah will increase by 55 percent on average, while a silver plan sold off exchange will increase by 23 percent, according to Tanji Northrup, the assistant insurance commissioner in the state. "Everyone really does need to get out and shop around," Northrup said. "We have that same message every year, but it's so crucial in Utah's market for 2018 plans." That's what Purvance plans to do. When Nov. 1 comes, she will look for a better deal, whether it is the same kind of plan she has now off-exchange or another one. Purvance and her husband realize they are in a good position, relatively speaking. They are both healthy, with years of experience in buying individual insurance and grateful for the Affordable Care Act after being denied coverage for minor pre-existing conditions in the past. But she's worried about whether others will get discouraged and give up when they see an outrageous price. Just as shopping for a plan is about to get a lot more confusing, federal funds that help support "navigators" - groups that help people through the process - have been slashed. Typically, Stevenson's organization, the Utah Health Policy Project, focuses on helping underserved Utahans sign up for insurance - lower-income people who may not have an email account or speak English. This year, Stevenson thinks more people than ever - at all income levels - will need help. Meanwhile, the navigator funding for Take Care Utah, a network of nonprofits and brokers focused on helping people sign up, has been slashed from $740,000 last year to $290,000 for open enrollment in 2018. Facing little help and the constant pronouncements "Obamacare is dead" from Trump, some people might simply go without health insurance. Others may be discouraged by the attention to rising premiums. But people eligible for federal assistance in paying their premiums, who make up to about $97,000 for a family of four, may not realize that their costs are likely to be about the same or even less than this year. Those 8.7 million Americans will also likely receive bigger premium tax credits, which could make shopping more counterintuitive, as Stevenson has found that, at least in Utah, many people will have the option of a $0 premium on a bare-bones plan - which would cover less and require giant deductibles. Rebecca Yates, an insurance broker and owner of Ark Insurance Solutions in Utah said that the flash of panic that people get when they receive a letter about their premium increasing happens every year but that this year it will be worse. "Those letters go out, and they are terrifying," Yates said. But because the Trump administration cut the open enrollment period and the resources for signing people up, navigators and brokers won't be able to reach as many people and help them through the process. Camilla Kragius of Park City did what most experts hope consumers will do when she got a letter saying her premiums would be hiked 25 percent next year. She called Yates to ask about options, which were relatively few because she does not qualify for federal assistance. She was most enthusiastic about a possible way out: Trump's recent executive order to make it easier for associations of small businesses to offer health plans. Trump's order could loosen the rules to allow small businesses to group together to negotiate health coverage, to avoid some of the Affordable Care Act's requirements. The 47-year-old entrepreneur, who works as a strategic coach for businesses, realized she hadn't used her health insurance in seven years. Perhaps, she thought, an association of health-minded entrepreneurs could start their own association to buy cheaper plans customized to their needs. She was disappointed to learn that the changes wouldn't be ready in time for January of next year. Kragius felt skeptical about the Affordable Care Act from the beginning and is disappointed that a solution won't come soon enough to help her next year. "The health care situation needs to be fixed, because we're on a trajectory that is not sustainable, economically," Kragius said. "Someone needs to go in and shake up the whole system."

Wealthy individuals can now buy up to $1M in cybersecurity insurance

An illustration picture shows a projection of binary code around the shadow of a man holding a laptop computer in an office in Warsaw June 24, 2013. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel (POLAND - Tags: BUSINESS TELECOMS) (Reuters) Wealthy individuals now have the option of buying their own cybersecurity protection, to cover up to $1 million in potential financial losses. The insurance option is one of the first offerings of its kind, providing cybersecurity coverage to individuals rather than corporations. It is the brainchild of Silicon Valley cybersecurity startup Rubica and Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE), a member-owned insurer designed for wealthy families. “Rubica receives calls daily from individuals who have experienced a cybercrime incident, frequently resulting in a financial loss ranging from $75,000 to $1 million and well beyond,” said Joe Levy, Rubica’s chief revenue officer, in a press release. PURE Starling, an add-on to the company’s homeowner’s policy, will reimburse subscribers for financial losses related to cyber fraud, provide assistance for dealing with extortion threats, remove malicious software and reinstall safe programs in the wake of a hack. More on this... Personal information security has risen to the forefront of the national discourse in the wake of the massive Equifax (EFX) breach that compromised the personally identifiable information of more than 145 million Americans. A cybersecurity expert told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that consumers would forever have to be concerned about their financial security if birth dates and Social Security numbers had been compromised.