Aetna CEO: Expect price hikes, bankruptcies, and policy changes

[ericire12]

Here comes the pain:



http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/29/aetna-ceo-warns-expect-price-hikes-bankruptcies-and-policy-changes/

“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor … If you like your coverage, you can keep your coverage.”  Barack Obama repeatedly offered these promises to audiences across the US in campaigning for ObamaCare, but Ron Williams, CEO of Aetna, begs to differ.  Williams provides health insurance to over 36 million people, and he has one message for Charlie Rose and the US — expect change:







Will insurance premiums go up?
The answer is yes, and some of the things that will drive those premiums are significant additional taxes the industry will ultimately have to pay in the first year.
The President said that this bill would not have any impact on people who already had coverage, that it was about the uninsured, that there would be no change. Will this legislation change the coverage of people who are already paying for it?
My perception is, yes, things will change. You might not have a plan that includes the exact same doctors. You might have plans that have richer benefits, and therefore you’re going to pay more for benefits you may or may not want. It would have been a better message to say, we’re going to make certain you maintain your eligibility.







Williams also expressed disappointment in the demonization of insurers during the ObamaCare debate.  Aetna employs over 35,000 people in that industry, and they certainly don’t see themselves as villains.  Although he doesn’t mention it, Williams had to have found himself a bit nonplussed over all the hyperbole about industry profiteering, too, with the health-insurance industry’s average of two to six points of annual margin.
That brings us to Williams’ assessment of the industry after ObamaCare.  One reason that people may have fewer choices in health insurance — and why they may lose their doctor or plan — is because smaller insurers won’t survive.  The new mandates and the expenses incurred by insurers that didn’t plan for them will swamp them in a sea of red ink.  Williams sees these insurers with their boutique plans as endangered species, who will either get swallowed whole by larger companies and their plans discontinued, or will succumb to bankruptcy and fail outright.
As Jim Geraghty says, every promise from Obama comes with an expiration date.

More here:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Top-insurance-exec-Your-health-premiums-will-go-up-coverage-will-change-under-Obamacare-89390487.html

[tt11758]

Increasing premium costs should come as no surprise to anybody who can add 2+2 and come up with 4.  Under Obamacare the insurance companies are being forced to provide coverage to potenitally millions of people for things they wouldn't have previously covered (pre-existing conditions).  This will undoubtedley cause the insurance companies to have to pay out substantially more in claims than the premiums generate.  When that happens the only recourse is to raise premium rates. 

Econ 101:  When costs go up, prices must increase as well, in order to maintain profit margins.

Since Obamacare failed to address the rising cost of providing the care to the patient, the insurance companies will find themselves between a rock and a hard place.  Personally, I believe this to be on purpose and by design.  When the kool-aid drinkers start bitching because, despite Obamacare, their health care costs are still increasing, it will be blamed on the EVIL insurance companies, and will be used as an excuse by the looney left to close down the insurance companies and move to a single-payer system

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

[ericire12]

Econ 101:  When costs go up, prices must increase as well, in order to maintain profit margins.

Yeah, thats one thing that I think liberals just dont get.

I argued that with a family member once who is a loony liberal (He practically gets a boner over Nancy Pelosi being speaker). He really just could not understand that this is what a business will do to offset costs. It was like I was telling him that up was down or something. He just could not wrap his brain around it. All he could ever muster up as a repeated counter argument was "No they dont".  After hearing that about 15 times, I just said "Look, I've got an MBA. Just concede the notion I am trying to put forth so that we can move on with the debate." Yes, Liberals are as hopelessly misguided as we think they are.

[Timothy]

All of the so called "evil insurance" companies here in the Peoples Republic are non-profit companies.  No year since enactment has my premium been lowered, in fact, the company has eaten the cost of the 12-14% increases over the two years I've been employed here.  My previous employer did the same.....though with fewer employees!

MA is bankrupt because of our health care system!

Nationally, it can only get worse.

[Timothy]

Yeah, thats one thing that I think liberals just dont get.

I argued that with a family member once who is a loony liberal (He practically gets a boner over Nancy Pelosi being speaker). He really just could not understand that this is what a business will do to offset costs. It was like I was telling him that up was down or something. He just could not wrap his brain around it. All he could ever muster up as a repeated counter argument was "No they dont".  After hearing that about 15 times, I just said "Look, I've got an MBA. Just concede the notion I am trying to put forth so that we can move on with the debate." Yes, Liberals are as hopelessly misguided as we think they are.

You acronym dropper you!!!!!

 

[Sponsor]

[ericire12]

You acronym dropper you!!!!!

 

YOU spell it out