The blame game has begun in earnest to explain why health insurance premium costs will spike dramatically for Coloradans next year, as high as 27 percent.
We think the answer is obvious. We’re looking at you, former President Obama and that Frankenstein creation dubbed Obamacare.
But Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar is spreading rumors begun in earnest by Democrats that it’s all the fault of Republicans who are trying to fix the system. They’ve even dubbed it the “Trump factor.”
“I believe that the dubious situation at the federal level has contributed to the premium increase requests we’ve seen from the companies,” she said.
If that were the case, then why is it the entire state is not seeing a huge bump in costs? Why is it mostly on the Western Slope?
Here’s why:
Cigna, which is requesting the largest rate increase at 41 percent, said Colorado’s market turned out to be, “more adverse than assumed in the current rates,” meaning it had cost more for the company to provide coverage than expected. Rocky Mountain Health Plans, which operates only in Mesa County and is requesting the smallest increase at 12 percent, said it flat-out lost money in prior years.
“The financial experience of the product was worse than expected,” the company wrote in its filing.
The only way Obamacare can work is if everyone is forced to buy it, or face taxes because they are young, healthy and can’t afford it.
It’s an interesting ploy for Democrats to keep supporting the failing plan as prices continue to sky-rocket, and blame those increases on attempts to fix the problem.
It’s like insisting that a leaky pipe in the bathroom was under control, but that calling a plumber for help caused the pipe to rupture and flood your home.
That argument doesn’t hold water. Especially coming from Salazar, who was busted during the early days of Obamacare for hiding cancellation numbers in a vain attempt to get former Sen. Udall reelected.