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Wednesday March 4, 2014

// March 4th, 2015 // Daily News

Obamacare prices to skyrocket if high court kills subsidies

Nearly 7.5 million people who get financial help to buy HealthCare.gov insurance would face average premium price hikes of a whopping 255 percent if that aid is ruled illegal in a pending Supreme Court case, a new analysis finds.
And that’s just the average price increase across 34 states served by the federal Obamacare health insurance exchange.
On the low end, the Avalere Health consultancy found, HealthCare.gov customers in Arizona would face effective average price increases of 122 percent for their coverage. At the other extreme, subsidy-eligible customers in Mississippi would face an average price hike of a sky-high 774 percent.
The second-highest effective rate increases would come in Alaska, where Obamacare customers could see average price increases of 449 percent, Avalere found.
People sit with an insurance advisor as they sign up for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in Miami.
The actual prices of the monthly plans would not change if the subsidies are taken away from customers, but customers would have to pay, as a rule, significantly more out of pocket for that coverage if the financial aid is ended. That could happen as early as this summer if the Supreme Court says the aid isn’t allowed under the Affordable Care Act.
Avalere CEO Dan Mendelson said Thursday that those kinds of sharp price spikes his company identified would be met by a mass exodus by customers from their existing Obamacare plans.
“We expect to see virtually all stakeholders aggressively seek alternatives to preserve continuity of care” if the Supreme Court rules for the plaintiffs in the case known as King v. Burwell, said Mendelson.
He noted that the premium increases projected by Avalere’s analysis would primarily affect relatively low-income populations of states whose governments are controlled by Republicans, because those are the bulk of HealthCare.gov customers.
The Urban Institute recently estimated that almost 10 million fewer people would be covered in the individual insurance plan market if the subsidies are eliminated for HealthCare.gov customers, largely due to people ceasing to buy insurance altogether because it would no longer be affordable.
Nearly 9 out of every 10 Obamacare customers nationally gets federal tax credits to help pay for their monthly insurance premiums. The subsidies are available to households that earn between one and four times the federal poverty level, or $23,850 to $95,400 for a family of four.

Today’s Inspiration

Believe and Receive

by Joyce Meyer – posted March 04, 2015

Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you.
– Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV

There is only one thing you can do with a free gift, and that is receive it and be grateful. I urge you to take a step of faith right now and say out loud, “God loves me unconditionally, and I receive His love!”

It took me a long time to fully accept His love. When you feel unlovable, it is hard to get it through your head and down into your heart that God loves you perfectly—even though you are not perfect and never will be as long as you are on the earth.

You may have to say it a hundred times a day, like I did for months, before it finally sinks in, but when it does it will be the happiest day of your life. To know that you are loved by someone you can trust is the best and most comforting feeling in the world. God will not only love you that way, but He will also provide other people who will truly love you. When He does provide, be sure to remain thankful for those people. Having people who genuinely love you is one of the most precious gifts in the world.

God loves you! God loves you! God loves you! Believe it and receive it!

Lord, I declare Your everlasting love for me. You have drawn me with loving-kindness, and I believe and receive it. Amen.