premiums

Bob Semro's piece on how the Affordable Care Act is saving money for Americans  (Americans save $2.1 billion on insurance premiums, thanks to ACA) was posted as part of Viewpoints on the Kaiser Health News website.

For most Americans, when it comes to the Affordable Care Act, the proof is in the pudding: Will it make health care more affordable? Will it save me money?

Here's a number: $2.1 billion. That's the amount saved in 2012 by consumers because of two provisions of the ACA, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. That's money in the pocketbook for millions of Americans, and it supports the notion that insurance premiums can be better managed.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which became law in March 2010, is one of the most sweeping pieces of legislation since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and perhaps inevitably, there has been much misinformation about the law and its provisions.

One area of misunderstanding has been the impact of reform on health insurance premiums. Many Coloradans seem to think that recent reforms have greatly contributed to the high costs of premiums.

This bill represents a net opportunity gain for Colorado. By equalizing the cost of health insurance premiums paid by men and women in the non-group market, the bill will reduce gender discrimination in health insurance. The bill will help reduce the financial barriers that women face to quality, affordable health care in Colorado.

Summary of Legislation

By Max Fisher
The Atlantic Wire
Posted Oct. 13, 2009

Posted Oct. 12, 2009, on Huffington Post-Denver

The excise tax on so-called Cadillac plans is a central feature of the Senate Finance Committee's health bill. Most often, Cadillac plans are described as the "overly generous" or "gold-plated" plans offered to Goldman Sachs employees and other Wall Street types. The idea is that levying a tax on these gold-plated plans will encourage lower spending and help slow the growth rate of health insurance and health care costs.

Unionization significantly raises the wages of low- and middle-income workers in Colorado, according to a national study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, DC, and released today in conjunction with Colorado’s Bell Policy Center. The benefit of unionization is greatest for low-wage workers.