Does This Make Any Sense?

In a recent posting a Health Care promoter was quoted as saying:

"Over the first two years, costs are going to be higher and (the ACA) is going to be seen as a failure” by some, Paduda said. “Of course costs are going to be higher, because of pent-up demand. … But after that, demand (for many) procedures will come down significantly.”

Pent up demand? The person was waiting for three years to have their lung tumor resected, or was it the glioblastoma, that nasty looking melanoma, that renal failure, what pent up demand. Perhaps the rhinoplasty, the botox shots, the extra birth control pills?

 

In my opinion this makes no sense at all, but it will become the pitch lines to justify additional cost over runs.

 

The article further states:

 

“We're focused like a laser on affordability,” American's Health Insurance Plans CEO Karen Ignagni told Modern Healthcare in an interview. AHIP has been arguing for months that premiums will rise because of a new premium tax, essential health benefits required of individual and small-group plans, and a narrower age-band ratio for rates. The new ratio means that an older individual will pay no more than three times more in premiums for the same plan. As a result, younger people will end up paying more for coverage in 2014 than today. Now, most states have a 5:1 age-band ratio.

Some of Ignagni's concerns were highlighted in a study released Tuesday by the Society of Actuaries. The actuaries found that the cost of medical claims, one of the key factors driving insurance premiums, will rise an average of 32% nationwide by 2017 as a result of an expected change in the individual market composition. The study further predicts that as many as 43 states could see claims costs increase by percentages in the double digits.

Premiums will rise because providers are mandated to provide a heap of new services and at no cost. It is not just birth control pills but it is every other service known to man and woman. We are looking at in excess of 10% pa compounded rates of increase. There is no real incentive to drive down costs in such areas as obesity driven Diabetes. In fact the law accommodates that and pays for any related costs.

As we had indicated when this mess began, we expect explosive cost growth going right to the National Debt!