Русский агент
Путин - мl
Millions of people who buy individual health insurance policies are bracing for another year of double-digit premium increases, and their frustration is boiling over.
Some are expecting premiums for 2018 to rival a mortgage payment.
What they pay is tied to the price of coverage on the health insurance markets created by the Obama-era law.
The most exposed consumers tend to be middle-class people. They include early retirees, skilled tradespeople, musicians, self-employed professionals, business owners, and people whose small employer doesn't provide health insurance.
If people such as Thornton drop out, they not only gamble with their own health. Their departure also means the group left behind gets costlier to cover as healthier customers bail out. That's counter to the whole idea of insurance, which involves pooling risk.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Before "Obamacare," insurers could turn away those with health problems or charge them more. Obama sold his plan as the long-awaited fix.
But an influx of sick customers drove up costs for insurers, while many younger, healthier people stayed on the sidelines.
The result was a 25 percent average increase in the price of a midlevel plan on HealthCare.gov heading into this year. Many states expect a similar scenario for 2018.
The number of customers with ACA plans outside the health insurance marketplaces dropped by 20 percent this year, after the big premium increases.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-who-buy-health-insurance-brace-for-double-digit-increases/