Obamacare: Still Failing | Making Healthcare Costs Rise as Expected

Of all of the problems and scandals plaguing the Affordable Care Act, the worst might just have been something that anyone could have seen coming.

"Perhaps the worst news is coming from states where next year’s insurance premiums have already been announced. This will undoubtedly come as a big shock to anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, but the premiums are going up. A handful of small and niche insurers are requesting smaller increases, and a few have lowered rates, news eagerly seized upon by Obamacare supporters. But, in reality, most of the major insurers are calling for double-digit increases next year."

The conspiracy theorist in me has been saying that this has been designed to be a controlled demolition of the private healthcare insurance market from the beginning, forcing private firms out of the market, then seeing the state step in to solve the problem it created through interventionist policy and bad laws.

"In Maryland, for example, CareFirst, the state’s dominant insurer, is proposing premium hikes of 23 to 30 percent for consumers buying individual plans next year. In Vermont, MVP Health Care has requested an average rate increase of 15.4 percent, while the only other insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, requested average hikes of 9.8 percent. The Ohio Department of Insurance reports that average premiums will increase by 13 percent for individual plans and 11 percent for small-business plans next year. In Virginia, insurers are seeking rate increases ranging from 3.3 percent to 14.9 percent in the individual market, while in Arizona, Cigna asked for average premium hikes of 14.4 percent and Humana requested a 25.5 percent increase. Some insurers in Washington State are seeking hikes as high as 26 percent."

"Apparently we will have to wait a little longer for that $2,500 premium reduction that the president once promised."

These increases in cost have been known effects of this sort of law, that increased regulation and compliance naturally drives up operating costs,  which result in higher costs for consumers, and a decline in quality of goods and services.

More:
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/obamacare-still-failing?utm_source=Cato+Institute+Emails&utm_campaign=544f6ab777-Cato_Today&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_395878584c-544f6ab777-142654397&mc_cid=544f6ab777&mc_eid=2033c8b5bc

So the result is the opposite of the intention of the law, not that it should be a surprise. Rockwell's Law...