I knew most of today’s reporters would have no clue how to report that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is already being forced to rework policies and premiums as a result of Obamacare, which was signed into law just six months ago. Alas:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has a rare bit of good news for consumers struggling with surging health costs.
The state’s largest health insurer announced Monday that it plans to refund $155.8 million to about 215,000 individual policyholders, a shift related to changes triggered by the federal health overhaul.
Uh, no. It is impossible to know if that is truly good short-term financial news for those policyholders unless we know their age and medical conditions — and — what their future premiums will be.
Further, the $155m. comes from the fact that Obamacare is essentially outlawing certain policies come 2014. By definition then, money that has been paid into Blue Cross to keep those policies working past that witching hour has to be refunded. The question then becomes, what takes its place and will consumers like whatever that might be more than what they had in September 2010? Unless you like the thrill of uncertainty it is hard to see how that is good news.
Suppose you had some sort of lease-purchase arrangement to own the house you are living in, which is basically how a mortgage functions. You’ve been paying with an eye toward a 2030 end date. But in swoops the federal government to declare your arrangement illegal after 2014 because it does not include utilities. You’ll get a refund on any “extra” you may have put towards your old 2030 deal, but your monthly rent immediately goes up by 5 percent to try to cover the added cost, with the promise of additional hikes, especially if you are younger, because the feds have declared it is unfair to make older people pay “too much” for housing. Plus come 2015 all homes must have — per federal law — white picket fences, bidets, solar panels etc.
See, good news, right?
