So Alaska shifted funds, sorry tax revenue already slapped on all types of insurance, from a rainy day fund towards Obamacare to help keep the cost down. Good for them, but what about the poorest states or states already insanely taxed, ya don’t think they’ll find a way to add more tax? – PB/TK
How Alaska fixed Obamacare – by
Last year, Alaska’s Obamacare marketplaces seemed on the verge of implosion. Premiums for individual health insurance plans were set to rise 42 percent. State officials worried that they were on the verge of a “death spiral,” where only the sickest people buy coverage and cause rates to skyrocket year after year.
So the state tried something new and different — and it worked. Lori Wing-Heier, Alaska’s insurance commissioner, put together a plan that had the state pay back insurers for especially high medical claims submitted to Obamacare plans. This lowered premiums for everyone. In the end, the premium increase was a mere 7 percent.
“We knew we were facing a death spiral,” says Wing-Heier. “We knew even though it was a federal law, we had to do something.”
Now other states are interested in trying Alaska’s idea, especially because Wing-Heier is working with the Trump administration to have the federal government, not the state, cover those costs.
Continue to vox.com article: http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/13/15262614/obamacare-alaska-reinsurance
