Insurance Premiums Up 78 Percent for Some

If you are young and voting in support of Obamacare, you are missing the point!

A new report from online insurance broker HealthPocket shows that average health insurance premiums have increased dramatically. The report, which looked at single, nonsmoking men and women without children, analyzed three different age groups: 23, 30 and 63. It assessed health insurance prices prior to the implementation of Obamacare and after its implementation in 2014. According to the report:

– The 23-year-old group saw the highest premium increases, with young men’s premiums rising by an average of 78.2 percent. Women in that age group saw hikes of nearly 45 percent.
– 30-year-old men saw their premiums rise 73.4 percent, while 30-year-old women saw their premiums rise 35.1 percent.
– For 63-year-olds, women’s premiums rose an average of 37.5 percent, while men’s rose 22.7 percent.

These numbers are before federal subsidies kick in, which Americans below 400 percent of the poverty line have access to on the exchanges. NCPA Senior Fellow John R. Graham noted this fact on the Health Policy Blog, writing, “Obamacare disguises these true premiums by offering health insurers tax credits to reduce the net premium people pay, thus fooling many into thinking that premiums have gone.”

Valerie Richardson of the Washington Times points to two main drivers of insurance costs: the Affordable Care Act prohibits insurance companies from refusing to insure individuals with preexisting conditions, and it requires insurance plans to offer a much more comprehensive set of benefits — this includes offering newborn care to enrollees who do not have children or whose children are full grown.

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