Denver Post: More than 3 million health insurance policyholders and thousands of employers will share $1.3 billion in rebates this year, thanks to President Barack Obama’s health care law, a nonpartisan research group said Thursday.
The rebates should average $127 for the people who get them, and Democrats are hoping they’ll send an election-year message that Obama’s much-criticized health care overhaul is starting to pay dividends for consumers. Critics of the law call that wishful thinking.
The law requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of the premiums they collect on medical care and quality improvement or return the difference to consumers and employers. Although many large employer plans already meet that standard, it’s the first time the government has imposed such a requirement on the entire health insurance industry.
Still, with employer coverage averaging about $5,400 a year for an individual and $15,100 for a family, $127 isn’t a whole lot of money. It amounts to 2 percent of an individual plan, and a little less than 1 percent of the family premium.
And the insurance industry says consumers should take little comfort from the rebates because premiums are likely to go up overall as a result of new benefits and other requirements of the law.
“The net of all the requirements will be an increase in costs for consumers,” said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main industry trade group.
“Given that health care costs are inherently unpredictable, it’s not surprising that some plans will be paying rebates to policyholders in certain markets,” Zirkelbach added.