White House shows off report on health care savings in 2014 - Politico

Grim prognostications about sky-high premiums under Obamacare might have been overstated, according to a report issued by the White House on Thursday.

It looks at a small subset of states that have already announced proposed premiums for next year, but the administration says it could be a sign of what’s to come everywhere else.

Those 10 states — from Rhode Island to Virginia to California — and Washington, D.C., have posted proposed premium information for health plans they intend to offer next year on their exchanges, the Web-based markets required under Obamacare. On average, monthly premiums will be $321, substantially less than the $391 per month federal bean counters had predicted, according to the White House’s report.

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These are averages, so some will see higher bills and some will see lower.

But those getting lower-than-projected rates won’t necessarily notice a difference in their pocketbooks: The smaller premiums highlighted in the report are in comparison to Congressional Budget Office projections of what consumers would pay next year — not what they are paying today.

The premiums are still preliminary, and negotiations with regulators could alter them further between now and when enrollment in the exchanges begins on Oct. 1. And premiums will be further offset for many people by tax credits available to those who earn up to four times the federal poverty level — or about $93,000 for a family of four — and can’t get affordable insurance through their jobs.

Although the report suggests there are “many hypotheses” that could account for the lower-than-expected premiums, the White House quickly credited its health law for stoking competition on the online markets where plans are clearly comparable side-by-side and driving down prices through requirements that insurers be more efficient and justify any major rate hikes.

“The reforms in the health care law ensure consumers will have access to better coverage at a lower cost in 2014,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement accompanying the report.

The two policies the administration credits with driving down prices require that health plans to spend 80 cents of every dollar on care, rather than paperwork, and that companies seeking double-digit premium increases receive more scrutiny. Consumers have saved more than $4 billion as a result of those policies, according to the report.

The findings are the subject of an address President Barack Obama intends to deliver from the White House’s East Room this morning.

Republicans were ready with a flood of anti-Obamacare messaging intended to pre-empt the president. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement suggesting that the health law’s tax on insurers will dwarf any savings described by the president. And Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS posted a mock ad for a disaster movie, set to a sinister soundtrack, with Obamacare starring as a devastating tornado.

The White House report was authored by Laura Skopec, an HHS program analyst, and Richard Kronick, deputy assistant HHS secretary for health policy. The other states included in the analysis were Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. All but Vermont posted individual premiums of less than the expected average.