LPA Foundation
Advisor Sally Pipes

Advisor Sally Pipes — LPA Foundation

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An “October Surprise” for Obamacare?

August 22, 2016

In just a few months, millions of Americans shopping on Obamacare’s insurance exchanges will discover some unfortunate news about the cost of their policies for next year.

According to the latest data, insurers have requested average rate hikes of nearly 24 percent. Those that regulators have already approved average 17 percent.

Notification of these increases for 2017 is likely to arrive in consumers’ mailboxes at an inopportune time for lawmakers who support the president’s healthcare law — just before Election Day.

Obamacare’s exchanges are collapsing. Sixteen of 23 state-sponsored CO-OP health plans created by Obamacare have failed. Insurers — including the largest, UnitedHealth, and the third-largest, Aetna AET +0.70% — are fleeing. Those that remain are demanding premiums so high that many people may well decide to flee the exchanges themselves — and pay a penalty of the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of income.

If that happens, a new Congress and new president will have quite the mess to clean up.

Read the full article at Forbes.com: An "October Surprise" for Obamacare?

Issue Categories : Health Care