Our View

Our View

No end in sight for rising insurance costs

It has been frustrating while our do-nothing elected representatives in Washington, on both sides of the isle, play their political partisanship, that our taxpaying constituents struggle to pay for their sub-standard, skyrocketing health care that Obama dumped on them, and deal with an overburdensome and antiquated tax system they were told was going to be overhauled.

Millions of people, including many in Arkansas, who buy individual health insurance policies and get absolutely no financial help under Obamacare are bracing for yet another year old double-digit premium increases, and their frustration is understandably boiling over.

These are the very same taxpayers that get absolutely no help from Obamacare’s tax credits, which cushion against rising premiums. Instead, they bear the brunt of market problems such as high costs and diminished competition.

Let’s face the grim fact that these morons representing us in Washington know fully well the most exposed consumers tend to be middle-class taxpayers who don’t qualify for the law’s income-based subsidies. The beneficiaries of this one-sided liberal Obama agenda has been the rising number of nonpaying taxpayers taking full advantage of free government health care, food stamps, government housing subsidies and scores of other government handouts.

Arkansans forced to pay ridiculously high insurance premiums for basic policies and the soaring costs caused by people who pay little to nothing has now led the state Insurance Department to approve rate increases ranging from 7.8 percent to 9.9 percent for the plans that will be offered on the state’s health insurance exchange next year.

For instance, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state’s largest health insurer, has requested an increase of 14.2 percent for its plans covering more than 202,000 Arkansans if the subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, are not provided, compared to an increase of 7.8 percent if the subsidies continue.

St. Louis-based Centene, which has plans covering more than 93,000 Arkansans, has also requested a rate increase of 21.4 percent if the subsidies stop, compared with a 9.9 percent increase if the payments continue.

Little Rock-based Qual-Choice Health Insurance, which has exchange plans covering about 41,000 more Arkansas, has requested an increase of about 25 percent if the subsidies are ended or 9 percent if they continue.

Our point to all this is that here we have government subsidized health care that is financially crippling the middle-class who are paying unfair taxes while these fat-cat career politicians making millions of dollars and not subject to the same rules and regulations as those they serve could care less about addressing their concerns.

We can only hope that come re-election time this silent majority of voters that put Donald Trump in the White House vote the bums out of Washington once and for all and elect people who will actually take care of those citizens who clearly are being used and abused for far too long.