Obamacare Will Make Premiums Higher For Younger Americans

The Affordable Care Act isn’t doing much to make health insurance more affordable. According to a new study, young Americans can expect big increases in premiums under the law.

Something that’s not great given other problems young Americans are facing, such as being crowded out of the job market and facing a student loan bubble.

A new study from global actuary firm Oliver Wyman finds “young, single adults aged 21 to 29,” with annual income roughly of $25,000, “can expect to see higher premiums” under the Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act. …

The analysis, featured in the latest edition of Contingencies, published by the American Academy of Actuaries, also found many single coverage adults up to age 44 with incomes at 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, or $33,510 for an individual, will see rate increases, too.

“In our study, we found that if premiums in the nongroup (individual) market were to increase on average by 10 percent to 20 percent because of changes required by the ACA (as some estimates have predicted), premiums for younger, healthier individuals could increase by more than 40 percent,” asserts the article, written by Kurt Giesa and Chris Carlson.

“In total, this means that close to 4 million uninsured individuals aged 21 to 29 — or roughly 36 percent of those currently uninsured within this age cohort — can expect to pay more out of pocket for single coverage than they otherwise would, even given the availability of premium assistance,” the study notes.

As the New York Times reported recently, premiums in general are expected to increase at double-digit rates. So what in Obamacare is driving prices higher? It’s the regulation, taxes and mandates according to Peter Suderman.

Obamacare includes taxes on health care, making the cost of care more expensive. Obamacare mandates expanded coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and for things like vision, dental and contraception. Also, Obamacare caps profits and administrative expenses for insurance companies at a percentage of premium revenue. Thus, the only way for an insurance company to maintain a certain profit margin, or spend more on administration, is to raise premiums.

I know that “profits” is a dirty word, but such is the reality of the marketplace. Obamacare is going to make insurance for Americans worse.