Average health care premiums to increase by 30-40% for some Wyoming residents.
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.
President Obama repeatedly promised Americans that his health care law would lower health care premiums by about $2,500 per family across the United States.
A new report by Gorman Actuarial, LLC, found that people in Wyoming who buy health coverage in the individual market will see their average premiums increase by 30-40%.
Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about this report and how the health care law will specifically affect families and individuals in Wyoming.
Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate:
“A report was authored by a Massachusetts group called Gorman Actuarial. It examined how the health reform law passed last year by Congress is going to affect the state of Wyoming, specifically.
“This report says that in Wyoming, as a result of the health care law, the current individual market enrollees will see average premiums increase by 30% to 40%.
“Some supporters of the law say they’re going to get more insurance that they would otherwise. That is true because they are going to get a government-mandated amount of insurance, which may be a lot more insurance than they want or that they need.
“Which is one of the fundamental problems of this health care law: government-mandated levels of insurance.
“Many people in Wyoming feel they don’t want that level of care, which is why I believe individuals should be able to opt out of this provision to the health care law.
“So, what we’re seeing in Wyoming is a significant increase in the cost—not the decrease that the President promised, but an increase in the cost of health insurance beyond what it would have gone up had there not been a health care law at all.
“I met with a number of young people from my state just the other evening, and they asked about this and how it’s going to affect the young. Well, what we see is that their rates are going to go up quite a bit.
“And a lot has to do with the fact that the lowest amount y can end up charging who is young and
then compare to that someone who is older, the ratio is 3-1.
“Someone who is not very healthy and older, they will only be paying three times more what a younger person will be paying—based on what passed in the House and Senate.
"Which means for the younger people they’re going to pay a lot more than they necessarily would based on their own good health, exercise habits, fitness, diet, and in terms of what their real costs ought to be to be insured.”
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