<p>It is hard to compare apples to apples. My premiums will go down about $100 a month - no subsidy. My deductible goes from $500 to $1500 a year. The kicker for me, as I have mentioned before, is that my old policy only offered $500 a year in prescription coverage. Everything after that is full pay. The $500 deductible is great but I’m playing with fire with that prescription coverage limitation. There is no change to my network of doctors or hospitals</p>
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<p>It absolutely has been. Since the ACA was passed, health care cost increases have decreased sharply. There is a lot of academic dispute about why the cost increases have slowed so much, and the general consensus says that the economic downturn is one major cause. But it looks like the ACA readmission penalties are having some effect.</p>
<p>We all probably remember the brouhaha about the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), that was supposed to be making recommendations for Medicare cost controls every year, that would have to be accepted or rejected in toto each year by Congress. Death Panels! Oh noes! </p>
<p>The IPAB was scheduled to be making recommendations for fiscal 2014. Except it doesn’t have to, because the IPAB only has to make recommendations if Medicare per-enrollee spending is growing faster than consumer prices. And it’s not. Which is astonishing.</p>
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<p>No, it’s not. Healthcare spending is down. Insurance premiums have never reflected how much insurance companies pay out. A great example is medical malpractice insurance. Premiums have stayed up even though med mal awards have been going down for a decade.</p>
<p>We need to distinguish between your premium going up, and health care costs going up. Your premium going up doesn’t mean health care costs are going up, necessarily-- it could just be that you are paying more of them.</p>
<p>Let’s take GP for an example. His premium went up a lot. But it went up mostly to pay for new costs that now have to be covered by insurance, like colonoscopies, and to cover sick people. His premium was going to go up even if health prices were identical in 2013 and 2014. That doesn’t tell us anything at all about per-person health care costs or per-procedure health care costs.</p>
<p>Cartera, health spending is up. It’s just not up very much.</p>
<p>“I think that is fuzzy math.”</p>
<p>But the “promise” that was made of seeing one’s premiums go down by $2500 - wasn’t just for people who aren’t getting subsidies. It was a “promise” for everyone. </p>
<p>As for the cost of health care going down - I believe somewhere in this thread is a post showing how much the rate of growth has slowed since ACA for the first time in years. </p>
<p>Here is an article about that. </p>
<p>[Officials:</a> Slower health spending growth may boost jobs](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/20/health-care-spending-growth/3650243/]Officials:”>Officials: Slower health spending growth may boost jobs)</p>
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<p>No. The first statement is correct.
Healthcare spending has been growing at a slower rate than before, so people have used that to claim it is going down (e.g. it only grew 4% last year, when in the past it grew 7%). </p>
<p>Unfortunately, part of that reason is due to unemployment and people cost cutting.</p>
<p>[Fact</a> Check: Is Obamacare Slowing Growth of Health Costs? - ABC News](<a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/fact-check-is-obamacare-slowing-growth-of-health-costs/]Fact”>Fact Check: Is Obamacare Slowing Growth of Health Costs? - ABC News)</p>
<p>“CMS projects expected growth of health costs in 2014 will be 6.1 percent, with an average projected growth of 6.2 percent per year thereafter.”</p>
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<p>Yes, should have pointed out how much spending has slowed.</p>
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<p>If is going up 6.1% next year.
Given the rate of inflation and salary increases, I would say that is still in the “very much” category.</p>
<p>I do recall reading that health care spending rates have shown less of an increase than usual over the last couple of years, and if so, that’s a good thing. It does seem that for next year, though, many people are getting quite a jump in premiums. As far as politicians promises, I never believe a word they say, any of them. Whomever they are, it’s all blah, blah, so I would never be disappointed when it doesn’t come true. Kind of like my annual New Years resolutions to eat healthier and exercise more. I’d like it to happen, I try for it, but it never really happens. I can’t even convince myself to believe my bs.</p>
<p>Well… The population is getting older…</p>
<p>So unless you want to start killing old people. …</p>
<p>Costs are going to rise…</p>
<p>“I can’t even convince myself to believe my bs.”</p>
<p>We arent convinced either. ;)</p>
<p>ccdaddio, where are you getting the 6.1% figure? In various articles I’m seeing health care cost growth of a tiny 1.3% per year for 2011-2013 (real cost growth, not nominal). The Medicare cost per enrollee in 2011-2013 rose ZERO percent. </p>
<p>[New</a> Report from the Council of Economic Advisers: The Recent Slowdown in Health Care Cost Growth and the Role of the Affordable Care Act | The White House](<a href=“http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/11/20/new-report-from-council-economic-advisers-recent]New”>New Report from the Council of Economic Advisers: The Recent Slowdown in Health Care Cost Growth and the Role of the Affordable Care Act | whitehouse.gov)
[This</a> chart is amazing news for our health cost problem](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/20/this-chart-is-amazing-news-for-our-health-cost-problem/]This”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/20/this-chart-is-amazing-news-for-our-health-cost-problem/)</p>
<p>@cardinal fang
from here: [Fact</a> Check: Is Obamacare Slowing Growth of Health Costs? - ABC News](<a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/fact-check-is-obamacare-slowing-growth-of-health-costs/]Fact”>Fact Check: Is Obamacare Slowing Growth of Health Costs? - ABC News)</p>
<p>Sorry, after the 2500 claim, the you can keep your doctor, or your medicine claim, I look for sources outside of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.</p>
<p>This cites a group that does this for a living and is peer reviewed.</p>
<p>“Health Affairs is the leading journal of health policy thought and research. The peer-reviewed journal was founded in 1981 under the aegis of Project HOPE, a nonprofit international health education organization. Health Affairs explores health policy issues of current concern in domestic and international spheres. Its mission is to serve as a high-level, nonpartisan forum to promote analysis and discussion on improving health and health care, and to address such issues as cost, quality, and access.”</p>
<p>[Workers</a> at auto dealership come face to face with Obamacare trade-offs - Investigations](<a href=“Investigations: U.S. & World News Investigations | NBC News”>Investigations: U.S. & World News Investigations | NBC News)</p>
<p>This Michigan car dealership faced an increase of premiums of 50%. Since they have 41 employees and are not subject to the mandate, they dropped insurance and are paying each employee $2400 to find individual insurance. </p>
<p>Most of the workers are now facing hugely increased premiums and deductibles. A handful qualify for subsidies and come out ahead. Four younger workers are not getting health insurance at all. </p>
<p>The insurance broker quoted states that in his experience the overwhelming majority of his customers are facing higher premiums with higher deductibles.</p>
<p>Okay, dstark, now the people in the post office are weirded out by my spontaneous laughter…going postal?</p>
<p>Busdriver11 :)</p>
<p>A part of me wants to be a mailman. Seriously. Since I was a little kid I wanted to deliver the mail. Has to be a walking route. </p>
<p>The problem is I think the mailbags are too heavy for me now. :)</p>
<p>You need to get back to work. :)</p>
<p>Did you read the article you cited, ccdaddio? It contradicts your claim of 6.1% growth, so I am mystified that you brought it in for support.</p>
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<p>Notice that national health spending is an aggregate, whereas per-person spending is per person. So necessarily, total spending growth would be bigger than per person growth, because we have more people each year.</p>
<p>OH this just keeps getting better.
On facebook, they told me to send them an email. I did. I got a response saying I needed to click a link to go the secure link or whatever to retrieve my message: </p>
<p>"Bad Request</p>
<p>Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand."</p>
<p>Of course.</p>
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<p>Yes, I read it.
Apparently you didn’t or you didn’t understand it.</p>
<p>The numbers for the growth you claimed are through 2013.</p>
<p>I said it is going up 6.1% next year (which is 2014).</p>
<p>That is supported by the last line in the article.</p>
<p>You can link to that study they cited in that last line and learn more about the future projections.</p>