Over the past several months, there's been conflicting information as to whether premiums will rise or fall under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. To help separate fact from fiction, Kaiser Health News has put together a compilation of facts that consumers and business owners who provide employee benefits to their workers can use to better understand the ACA.
Perhaps the most important thing to be aware of is that the cost projections from various studies are based on averages. However, many people have situations that are not what's typical. In other words, don't fail to take into account that age, location and the insurer selected all play into insurance cost projections, so what's predicted may be distinctly different from reality.
Something else to keep in mind is that any significant changes in premiums prices likely won't be broad-based. KHN pointed out that thus far, the rates submitted to states and federal government are for insurance packages that are sold to individuals and small businesses that employ 50 or fewer workers. Large firms likely won't see any changes because these companies usually already have an insurer.
More of the important things to know can be found at KHN's website.
Insurers and business owners have a fixed amount of time to make their rates known to states that are setting up the exchanges. However, many of these marketplaces have yet to be established, as 27 states have refused to set them up. This leaves the federal government in charge of their formation.
