and Obamacare just keeps getting better,lol
Early this week, three major insurers in Tennessee — Cigna Health Insurance, Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield — were granted massive premium increases after the state’s insurance commissioner warned that the Obamacare markets were “very near collapse.” Those rate hikes ranged from 44 percent for Humana to 62 percent for BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee.
Related: Obamacare Suffers Another Big Blow as Aetna Pulls Out of 11 Markets
State insurance commissioners throughout the country are warning consumers that similar big rate hikes are in the offing for them. And as Politico reported on Friday, some of the steepest increases have been requested by health insurance companies in nine of the 11 states with competitive Senate races.
According to the report, a majority of those states have at least one insurer seeking to raise their rates for the coming year by more than 30 percent. In New Hampshire, for example, where Republican incumbent senator Kelly Ayotte is trying to fend off a strong challenge from Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, two of the five insurers are seeking rate increases in excess of 30 percent.
Wisconsin residents could face rate hikes of as much as 45 percent, according to federal health care data. Sen. Ron Johnson, who is considered to be among the most endangered Republicans, has denounced the rate hikes as part of a “massive consumer fraud” that is “harming real people,” according to Politico. “People are experiencing enormous premium increases,” said Johnson, who is being challenged by former Sen. Russ Feingold. “It’s not working.”
In Indiana, meanwhile, the giant insurance company Anthem has signaled efforts to raise Obamacare premiums by as much as 36 percent. Rep. Todd Young, the GOP candidate for a seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Dan Coats, has already begun making the rate increase an issue against former Sen. Evan Bayh, the Democratic challenger. Young is attempting to turn their race into a referendum on Bayh’s vote in support of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.