Side Effects: Obamacare Raises Your Premiums

Conn Carroll / September 08, 2010

Health Insurers Plan Hikes. That’s the headline of today’s Wall Street Journal story which reports: “Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections. Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.”

It’s exactly what conservatives predicted. While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did estimate that Obamacare would cause health insurance premiums to rise, conservatives correctly pointed out that the CBO’s estimates were wildly optimistic. James Capretta wrote at the time: (more…)