<p>The risk corridors limit an insurance company’s loss. But they don’t limit it to zero; if the insurance company gets it wrong, they lose money.</p>
<p>So insurance companies had every reason to get the premiums right; by no means would they just scribble something on a napkin when real dollars were at stake.</p>
<p>Just a week or two ago we had a few links in this thread about Wellpoint. Wellpoint talked about working hard to get the premiums right. I didnt see anything about napkins. :)</p>
<p>I don’t get why some want to discount the Medicaid numbers. The people signing up for medicaid now were originally uninsured because they did not qualify for Medicaid under the old rules. A lot of the remaining uninsured are in states which refused to expand Medicaid. </p>
<p>Who cares about the numbers, although I think dstark’s medicaid numbers are wrong. It is a sideshow. The real story is the CBS report Flossy linked. The provider networks are a mess and many policyholders are finding out how bad they are. This is the real story of Obamacare which is now becoming more widely known. </p>
<p>One thing I have noticed is that very few posters have Obamacare plans on the individual market and those that have have not had any experience so far with the provider network. We are going to see many more of these CBS reports of people getting substandard care as result of Obamacare. </p>
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<p>Some/many did not previously qualify; others qualified but did not sign up for Medicaid (for whatever reason), and still others would have been newly eligible for Medicaid regardless of ACA.</p>
<p>One other thing that is happening in Ca, is that the insurance companies are shopping their state regulator. Blue Shield and Anthem have taken all their new policies to the Dept of Managed Health Care. Most of the cancelled policies were regulated by the Dept of Insurance. It is not hard to figure out why they did this. The Dept of Insurance has been much tougher with the insurance companies than Managed Health Care. This agency has typically regulated the HMO’s and is comfortable with the concept of narrow networks and restricting heathcare.</p>
<p>The reason I don’t care about medicaid - they don’t pay a premium and thus are not part of this thread.</p>
<p>The premiums can go up next year if it was not adequately determined this year. Although some people here seem to think this thread is here to cheer or denigrate ACA, its primary purpose even as of now is to discuss PREMIUMs.</p>
<p>“The above thread will be closed and this new thread will be used to discuss premiums, exchanges, bronze, silver, and gold plans and anything and everything about health insurances.”</p>
<p>That is from the first post in this thread. </p>
<p>“The reason I don’t care about medicaid - they don’t pay a premium and thus are not part of this thread.”</p>
<p>Oh, my bad. I didn’t realize medicaid is off topic. </p>
<p>If the primary purpose is to discuss premiums then talk of provider networks should be off topic, too. JM$0.02. </p>
<p>I said I don’t care about it. If I wanted to stop the discussion, I would have.</p>
<p>I qualify for Medicare, but I have several friends who are very happy with their exchange plans in NY. Paying less (subsidies) for more (preventive care). NY already had community rating for individual policies so there weren’t issues of pre-existing conditions or cancellations for using your insurance too much.</p>
<p>GP…I am happy…just got a call from a relative. My percentage paid number is looking low. ;)</p>
<p><a href=“http://news.investors.com/politics-obamacare/021414-689976-obamacare-per-enrollee-costs-in-states-sky-high.htm?ref=HPLNews”>http://news.investors.com/politics-obamacare/021414-689976-obamacare-per-enrollee-costs-in-states-sky-high.htm?ref=HPLNews</a></p>
<p>Costs per enrollee on the state run exchanges. Hawaii spent over $56,000 per enrollee. Massachusetts spent $22,000. The average is $1,700. </p>
<p><a href=“http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022905884_acaprivatemarketxml.html”>http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022905884_acaprivatemarketxml.html</a></p>
<p>This is for texaspg…estimates of how many new enrollees in Washington. Not a high number. </p>
<p>"An estimated 300,000 people are predicted to have health-insurance plans by the end of March when the individual insurance market closes for the year.</p>
<p>That’s a slight bump from the roughly 277,500 people who had individual coverage when Washington’s insurance exchange opened for business in October. It would also reverse a three-year downward trend in the number of people buying individual insurance."</p>
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<p>What about calmom?</p>
<p>dstark, are your percentage paid numbers for one insurance company, one state, or nationwide?</p>
<p>Just one insurance company, but my relative works in the industry. My percentage is too low and I was told the percentage paying is increasing every day. </p>
<p>On a negative front, those state of Washington numbers dont look too good to me. I hope those projections are not right. :)</p>
<p>“An estimated 300,000 people are predicted to have health-insurance plans by the end of March when the individual insurance market closes for the year.”</p>
<p>thanks dstark. Is there a pool on extending enrollment date?</p>
<p>Texaspg, I might be on your side on this. :)</p>
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<p>Great idea. We need a little something like a good wager to keep this thread going. But since dstark is the apparent big money winner, and has a ringer (relative) in the biz, dstark will have to give odds to make it fair for everyone else. :)</p>