Monday, May 21, 2012

Medical Loss Ratio

Medical loss ratio's as defined (dictated) under Obamacare were supposed to bring premiums down, saving taxpayers untold millions of dollars. As Henry recently pointed out, the average "rebate" to OH consumers is about $268 to individual consumers.

And that is only for those who are entitled to a rebate.                

About 1 in 3 policyholders will get a rebate, the rest of you get a lump of coal.

The folks at Kaiser Foundation calculate the average rebate at $39 so you folks in Ohio must be living right.

Don't spend it all in one place.

Currently the MLR (medical loss ratio) provisions of Obamacrap apply only to those with individual major medical or employer (fully insured) group health plans. But changes may be coming. (More on that in a future post).

What impact has MLR had on health insurance premiums, and on health insurance in general?

  • Premiums are still rising at the same or higher clip than before Obamacrap/MLR
  • Carriers are reducing support staff and/or hiring cheap overseas call centers
  • Longer processing times for new health insurance applications
  • Longer processing times for health insurance claims
  • Fewer carriers offering health insurance plans
  • Fewer carriers = fewer choices = higher premiums
  • Fewer agents willing to offer health insurance products for their clients
  • Agents that do still offer health insurance cannot afford to offer the same level of service as before
  • More cost shifting to the consumer as carriers "gut" plans to produce lower premium choices
How is this working for you so far?

Bet the seniors on Medicare can't wait to see what surprises are in store for them. And let's not forget that AARP was and still is a major supporter of Obamacare.
blog comments powered by Disqus