In yet another entry in the "no shit" chronicles, insurers are requesting huge rate increases for ObamaCare policies due to a insurance pool that was older and sicker than expected. From Megan McArdle,
"So the proposed 2016 Obamacare rates have been filed in many states, and in many states, the numbers are eye-popping. Market leaders are requesting double-digit increases in a lot of places. Some of the biggest are really double-digit: 51 percent in New Mexico, 36 percent in Tennessee, 30 percent in Maryland, 25 percent in Oregon. The reason? They say that with a full year of claims data under their belt for the first time since Obamacare went into effect, they're finding the insurance pool was considerably older and sicker than expected."
Clearly a year of data is worth more than promises from politicians. Add to this the millions who lost insurance policies they were happy with, the extremely high deductibles, people paying for care they do not need (single men do not need OB-GYN care, etc.) and the failure of the website and enrollment infrastructure, and you can see why Ocare is such a success <sarc>. Of course to liberals, intentions are really what we should measure and by this metric of success, it is doing just fine.
Let me add that I think this is all part of the plan. The rate increases will lead to the call for more subsidies to make Ocare affordable and once you have turned the middle class into dependents of the state, it will be easy to summon the support to single-payer healthcare and, in the words of Mark Steyn, change the relationship between the government and the governed forever. We will have been boiled like the proverbial frog...slowly. In the meantime, cue Gomer:
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