HHS Secretary Seeks To Provide Consumers With Actual Obamacare Costs

Date: November 27, 2015

Burwell Plans To Add Insurance Premium, Projected Procedure Costs To Obamacare Websites

Bloomberg News reported HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell is “pushing to get more information to consumers about what they’ll actually pay for health care, which can include out-of-pocket costs as well as premiums,” in a bid to “reduce turbulence” the ACA’s insurance markets. Burwell told Bloomberg that the changes “are meant to help people choose coverage that fits their needs when up-front premiums and out-of-pocket costs are added together.” Said Burwell, “Many people came into the system very focused on premium only, and then learned about total cost. … We think total cost is important, and we’ve been driving the consumer to understand that.” For the first time, healthcare.gov “will show customers the cost of insurance premiums and also estimate what their actual health expenses will be,” a change Burwell said will “help people pick appropriate coverage…and could keep them from dropping policies midyear, a problem known as churn that’s plagued insurers like UnitedHealth and Aetna Inc.”

What This Means For Small Business

Healthcare costs keep rising at rates that small businesses and consumers alike are unable to afford. Politico previously reported that government data showed that for 2016 Obamacare coverage, consumers “are facing an average 7.5% price increase” for the second-cheapest “silver plan,” which is “a key benchmark.” However, “the average rate hikes will vary dramatically from state to state — skyrocketing more than 30 percent in Alaska, Montana and Oklahoma while dropping 12.6 percent in Indiana.” Such cost increases will remain as long as Obamacare is operational, and the HHS’ efforts to show consumers what their costs might be won’t help to lower those costs. Rather, they might leave some consumers and small businesses with a false sense of security about how much procedures will cost that, due to local variations, will actually end up being far costlier.

Additional Reading

NFIB previously reported on anticipated rate hikes for Obamacare in 2016.

Note: this article is intended to keep small business owners up on the latest news. It does not necessarily represent the policy stances of NFIB.

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