Help! Why have premiums on the ACA site gone up 60%+ in 6 weeks?

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Wednesday December 04, 2013 · 7:27 AM PST

2013/12/04 · 07:27

Back on 10/26, I checked the estimated base premiums (without tax breaks or subsidies) on a number of the ACA Silver Plans. There is a chance I may be close to broke next year and if I count on the subsidies, I may not have enough to pay the taxes and might end up having to pay the subsidies back. So I needed something with a base price I could maybe afford without subsidies. (I'm currently paying, with a recent rate hike, about $400.)

I focused on two plans, one from BCBS, with an estimated premium of $380.54, the other from Cigna with an estimate of $419.35. Even without subsidies, these were still-- just barely--affordable for me.

Today, I went back to Healthcare.gov, intending to sign up, and looked again at those two plans.

The BCBS plan estimate is now $612! The Cigna plan? $675! That's a hike of more than 60%....in six weeks!

Sirenus

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Sunday December 23, 2012 · 7:25 AM PST

2012/12/23 · 07:25

Let's talk about a certain kind of object. A "motor vehicle."

This object is designed to transport people and materials from place to place

But because it is very heavy and can move with extreme speed, it is potentially dangerous. Because of this potential for danger, its use is highly regulated.

Sirenus

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Monday August 06, 2012 · 2:52 PM PDT

2012/08/06 · 14:52

I've been baffled by Romney's refusal to release his taxes from the beginning, and that feeling has grown every time he's refused again.

After all, what could be so awful about his tax forms? The IRS has seen them and not tossed him in jail for fraud; if he paid little or no taxes and did it legally, he could simply shug that off and wait for the fuss to die down.

But he keeps stonewalling. Why? What are in those tax returns that are so bad he'd rather throw the race then let the world see them? Did he invest heavily in the child porn industry? Did he write off big bucks spent in a Nevada "ranch" as "entertainment expenses"? Did he hire someone to firebomb a competitor, then deduct the cost of the bomb? What? What could embarrass and humiliate Mitt so badly that he'll refuse to release those tax forms?

I started thinking about it. And something occurred to me, based on my observation that Mitt, like Shrub and McCain, is the lesser son of a superior and dominant father. For such a son, nothing is worse than the loss of status.

Sirenus

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Monday July 30, 2012 · 3:42 PM PDT

2012/07/30 · 15:42

Tomorrow, here in Texas, we have run-off elections. Shouldn't be too busy; just another long day, up at 4am, home at 9pm, if I'm lucky.

But I'm grimacing at the idea of working this one. Because I'm just so damn tired of working with Republican judges.

Here in Texas, the "lead judge"--i.e. the one who gives the orders--is the judge of the party that got the highest vote count in the last gubernatorial election in one's precinct. No surprise there; since Perry's had a lock on the governorship for what seems like forever, the lead judges have been the Republican judges. In the last five years, I've gone through five of them.

Sirenus

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Thursday March 10, 2011 · 9:10 AM PST

2011/03/10 · 09:10

I picked up my morning newspaper today and saw this bit of corporatism gone wild:
"Company to Raise the Price Of High Risk Pregnancy Drug 14,900 Percent"
http://www.star-telegram.com/...

Incredible. The right wing is trying to make any miscarriage where a doctor was present a crime, and any abortion for any reason whatsoever an excuse for "justifiable homicide." Meanwhile, a corporation has now just priced a drug that helps women carry babies to term out of the reach of all but the rich.

A drug for high-risk pregnant women has cost about $10 to $20 per injection. Next week, the price shoots up to $1,500 a dose, meaning the total cost during a pregnancy could be as much as $30,000.

I'd like to hear what the right-to-lifers will say about this. Will they condemn KV Pharmaceuticals? Will they call for the government to rescind this rule?

Or will they call this "capitalism" at its finest? In other words, politicians using regulations not to help citizens, but to help corporations. (IMHO, the antithesis of true capitalism.)

Meanwhile, laws are proposed that will leave women with no choice; having the baby they want die because they can't afford a drug that should cost $20 a shot; or either dying themselves due to a botched illegal abortion.

Update:
Here's a link to a more comprehensive HuffPo article. KV says that the price is justified because it's better than having to pay $50,000+ to care for a preemie. They also say they're sending "cease and desist" notices to any pharmacy that still sells this drug. You pay their price or you do without. Incredible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Poll

0 votes Show Results

0 votes Vote Now!

Let's Get Government Out of Our Lives! I mean, really.

Sirenus

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Sunday March 06, 2011 · 2:09 PM PST

2011/03/06 · 14:09

Let’s do that.

First off, let’s dismantle the United States Armed Forces. Government employees, all of ‘em. A few years without the costs of all those planes, tanks, ships and people and “Goodbye deficit!” After all, all Americans have the right to bear arms. If someone decides to invade this country, we’ll just grab our guns and shoot them. Every town can buy its own tank and its own fighter plane. We’ll hold bake sales and raffles to cover the cost.

Poll

22 votes Show Results

Living without governments?

22 votes Vote Now!

Living without governments?

Anarchy!

5 votes

Freedom!

5 votes

Hell!

5 votes

Heaven!

2 votes

An early Mel Gibson movie!

5 votes

"Maybe he's a liberal." It didn't take long for that pitch to surface.

Sirenus

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Sunday January 09, 2011 · 1:24 PM PST

2011/01/09 · 13:24

In a comment this morning, I said that the right-wing would soon seize upon the info that the Arizona shooter advocated burning flags to brand him a liberal.

"Long" in this case amounted to few hours.

Sirenus

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Friday August 27, 2010 · 8:16 AM PDT

2010/08/27 · 08:16

I just saw a 30 second spot on TV featuring Fred Thompson. The impressions created by this spot? Everyone got tax cuts from Bush; the tax cuts kept the economy from crashing after 9/11; and Obama plans to raise everyone's taxes at least 10%.

Sirenus

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Saturday February 20, 2010 · 2:25 PM PST

2010/02/20 · 14:25

A friend sent me this. It's a letter that was sent her by a women who has expressed, more eloquently than I ever could, how people are suffering because of the insanities of our current health care system.

The letter writer's name is Susanna. She lives in Missouri. Here is her story and the story of some of the other people in the rural area where she lives. I have edited it slightly for length.

Sirenus

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Monday January 18, 2010 · 11:27 AM PST

2010/01/18 · 11:27

This is the smear that's being pitched by every neocon and rightwing blog in Mass right now. That's the basis for the "shove a curling iron up her ass" yell.

A reading of the original Boston Globe article reveals that what's being claimed (or rather, deliberately implied) is not what happened. As is usual with the right wing, they've taken a tiny nugget of truth and twisted it into a horrific lie that they are spreading as fast as they can.

If you are planning to GOTV today, I suggest you read this first:

Sirenus

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Saturday October 31, 2009 · 6:52 PM PDT

2009/10/31 · 18:52

I just came back from a town hall meeting held by my local Congressional Representative, Kay Granger. It was an education to see a master of half-truths, misdirection and deliberately false implications at work.

More below:

Sirenus

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Thursday September 10, 2009 · 10:37 AM PDT

2009/09/10 · 10:37

Was Joe Wilson's little outburst last night an expression of "spontaneous" disdain?

Or was it a carefully planned career move?

Poll

190 votes Show Results

Do you think Wilson planned this insult of the President?

190 votes Vote Now!

Do you think Wilson planned this insult of the President?

Yes.

126 votes

No.

64 votes

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Help! Why have premiums on the ACA site gone up 60%+ in 6 weeks?

What If There Was A Constitutional "Right to Drive" for Motor Vehicles?

What if Romney's hiding the awful fact...that he didn't make that much money.

What is it about Republicans? A Texas Election Judge's Story

"Protect the Unborn" vs "Protect Fat Profits"

Let's Get Government Out of Our Lives! I mean, really.

"Maybe he's a liberal." It didn't take long for that pitch to surface.

Senator Fred Thompson: Obama will raise everyone's taxes

A Desperate Letter from a Woman in Missouri

Does Coakley Let Pedophiles Go Free? No!

R-TX: Co-op, Single payer, PO...They're all the same.

I think Joe Wilson is crazy like a fox.