Health costs to $oar
NYC workers' outlay jumping 30% under Obamacare
By GREGORY BRESIGER
Last Updated: 4:43 AM, October 4, 2010________________________
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Despite assurances from the Obama administration that the recently signed healthcare reform law would save Americans money, benefit professionals are seeing huge medical premium hikes and decreased benefits.
Employers and ultimately taxpayers could get sticker shock as plans companies begin to renew their medical benefits packages for 2011.
A Manhattan health benefits consultant says insurance companies are telling employers they will pay have to pay much more in 2011 -- and for reduced coverage.
"It should be noted that premium increases were in excess of 30 percent over the previous year," said Barbara Brody of Barbara A. Brody & Associates. Brody said average rate increases next year for Manhattan-based firms she advises could be as high as "67 percent but will average 30 percent."
Luca Medical/Alamy
That's because insurance companies, faced with higher costs after the passage of a giant health reform measure, plan to pass most of the costs onto consumers, according to several industry observers.
The additional costs for the insurance companies include: covering dependents up to 26-year-olds as well as pre-existing conditions of new enrollees and coverage for the currently uninsured.
And they will see hefty premium hikes and out-of-pocket expenses rise, they add.
These increases would be in addition to big hikes already put in effect this year, Brody says.
Just this week McDonald's said it may drop its health-care plan for 30,000 employees unless it gets a waiver on the annual coverage.
However, a spokesman for the Obama administration says the benefits of the recently signed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, designed in part to provide health insurance to tens of millions of Americans without coverage, will be phased in over the next decade.
The spokesman also said the law would ultimately help consumers to pay medical bills.
A spokesman for Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says the new law, in covering millions of uninsured Americans, will save $1 billion.
Nevertheless, health insurance premiums in 2011 will dramatically rise, the first year of the Obama healthcare reform, medical professionals say.
The problem is Obamacare will squeeze various health insurance companies, Brody says.
"The healthcare reform law does mandate specific benefits to be phased in over the next few years, but it does not address the many ways an insurance company may cut benefits in order to still make a profit," according to Brody.
Brody, who read the 2,000-page healthcare bill twice, says there are many things in the bill that were never discussed in detail.
For instance, the bill contains a category of pharmaceuticals called biologics, Brody explains.
The bill allows the brand-name use of biologics over generics for some 14 years. That will result in millions of dollars of additional costs, she says.
Maybe, she suggests, these things were missed because numerous elected officials predicted the bill would never become law.
"Every insurance carrier in New York state has filed for rate increases," Brody says. She says carriers are anticipating the cost mandates of the new law.
These increases, she adds, will lead companies to cutbacks. Among them will be:
* Higher deductibles and larger co-payments
* Higher out-of-pocket maximums each year
* Specific tests and drugs dropped from the policies
But the Obama administration says the Affordable Care Act will provide help for consumers by eliminating the "worst insurance company practices," according to Stephanie Cutler, an assistant to the president for special projects.
Quicken your pulse
New Yorkers’ health care premiums will soar 30 percent next year because of new regulations, according to a survey of Manhattan businesses.
Single employee
2011 $1,125
2010 $865
2009 $766
Increase/Month +$260
Employee and spouse
2011 $2,249
2010 $1,730
2009 $1,532
Increase/Month +$519
Employee and child
2011 $2,136
2010 $1,643
2009 $1,455
Increase/Month +$493
Employee and family
2011 $3,486
2010 $2,681
2009 $2,375
Increase/Month +$805
Read more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/health_costs_to_oar_PxrH0QkqmGiS0rP4SIbKWJ#ixzz11POOBUrw
