Mar 31 2010
One looming question for many consumers is whether the health overhaul will change how much they pay for insurance. Reports explore how the legislation will affect insurance premiums for three different groups.
Indianapolis Star: People with employer-sponsored insurance can expect to see their rates increase even faster. And that's before the major provisions of the legislation take effect. "Driven by worries about the economy and possibly the effects of health-care reform, [insurers] are raising rates this year for family coverage through employer-sponsored plans. And not just a little." Premiums are rising 8 percent to 21 percent, compared with an average of 5 percent in 2009 (Lee, 3/30).
Associated Press: "Under the health care overhaul, young adults who buy their own insurance will carry a heavier burden of the medical costs of older Americans — a shift expected to raise insurance premiums for young people when the plan takes full effect." When that does happen in 2014, young people shopping for insurance on the individual market can expect premiums to rise by about 17 percent. Some young workers, however, would get extra help to cover those costs from the government (Johnson, 3/29).
The New York Times: Women, on the other hand, may benefit from lower premiums as a result of a new ban on gender discrimination in the insurance market. "Until now, it has been perfectly legal in most states for companies selling individual health policies — for people who do not have group coverage through employers — to engage in 'gender rating,' that is, charging women more than men for the same coverage, even for policies that do not include maternity care." Those differences can range up to 48 percent, according to the National Women's Law Center (Grady, 3/29).
 This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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