ObamaCare’s War on Men

by Linda Gorman NCPA May 28, 2013

ObamaCare institutes several types of price controls on insurance premiums. The elimination of gender-based ratings forces young men to subsidize the substantially higher claims of young women, ending claims-based differentials of up to 70 percent under age 40. The 3:1 age rating limit requires younger people to subsidize older people, ending the roughly 6:1 rating that was based on actual costs. The elimination of health status as a rating factor forces those in good health to subsidize those in poor health, whether or not good health is due to self-control or lucky genetics.

In 2012, Milliman calculated how much the price controls are likely to raise costs for those unlucky enough to be affected by them. Here are some examples of the variations caused by market pricing for an Anthem HSA policy for an individual living in Marion County, Indiana, in November, 2011:

Based on estimated rates for ObamaCare policies and subsidies keyed to exchange silver plans, Milliman concludes that ObamaCare rules would have the following impact on the cost of then current $5,500 deductible plans (ObamaCare outlaws individual market deductibles of $5,500.)

Men, especially the young ones, are the biggest losers.