81% Health Insurance Hike

Health insurance premiums are rising across the country. The biggest insurance hikes might be in the Big Apple.

Crystal Run Health Insurance Company will increase its health insurance premiums offered on the state’s exchange by a staggering 81 percent, according to the New York Daily News. In total, premiums for 17 individual New York plans will increase an average of 16.6% in 2017. Approximately 350,000 patients will be affected by the price increases.

Patients with individual plans aren’t alone. Rates for small group plans will also increase 8.3% — affecting more than a million patients.

These rate hikes are unacceptable. Patients are struggling as it is, and can’t be expected to make the impossible choice between housing and health care.

Election 2016: What’s the Difference?

What are the differences between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on health care?

AJMC’s Mary Caffrey identifies five big differences between the Republican and Democratic candidates on health care.

Count us among the voters already sick of the nasty headlines and absurd controversies this election. But, as Caffrey points out, both Trump and Clinton have serious health care policy ideas that should be getting more attention.

• “For Trump, it’s a proposal he offered in the very first televised debate—a call to allow businesses to buy coverage across state lines. The concept of an “optional federal charter” has been around for nearly 20 years and is a rare example of how Trump’s business experience translates into a serious policy proposal.”
• “For Clinton, her call to let Americans as young as 55 years old “buy into Medicare” has received almost no attention, even though it could vastly change both that program and the private health insurance market.”

Check out the entire piece for the differences between the candidates on Medicaid and the future of the Affordable Care Act.

State Spotlight: Rocky Mountain Single Payer

Colorado could become the first state in the country to adopt a single payer health care system.

KDVR’s Joe St. George reports on the upcoming state ballot measure that would establish Colorado Care, a single-payer government-run health insurer.  Under Colorado’s Amendment 69, “a 21-member elected board would administer the coverage on behalf of the government.” There’d be no copays and no deductibles.

“We are going to lead the country to universal health care,” TR Reid, a supporter of Amendment 69, told KDVR. “We should have done this decades ago.”

Of coruse, someone has to pay the estimated $30 billion price tag for Colorado’s single payer system. Amendment 69 will be funded by a 6.6 percent increase in employers’ payroll taxes and a 3.3 percent increase in employees’ payroll taxes.

As with all issues, our biggest questions with Amendment 69 are:

• What will this proposal mean for patients’ access to life-saving treatments?
• Would the 21-member elected board be charged with rationing care to reduce costs?
• Would patients in Colorado have the right to access the right treatment right when they need it?
• What are the long-term implications for encouraging more innovation to develop new treatments?

Rather than return to our ideological corners, let’s encourage a conversation about these patient-focused topics.