Premiums in Kentucky projected to rise by up to 106%

The-South-vs-Obamacare

We've already seen that the current administration's proposed Medicaid expansion in the commonwealth would cost Kentuckians nearly $1 billion over the next ten years. Unfortunately, Congress has recently released a report providing denizens of the Bluegrass State with even more wallet-crunching news.

According to the release entitled "The Price of Obamacare's Broken Promises," premiums for healthcare in Kentucky are set to rise by between 65 to 106 percent due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act supported by Gov. Beshear.

According to the Heritage Foundation, the bulk of these price increases can be credited to two factors. First, Obamacare comes right out and mandates that any premium variation due to age and the health risks associated with age can only be within a ratio of 3 to 1. However, according to the Heritage report, "The natural variation by age in medical costs is about 5 to 1—meaning that the oldest group of (non-Medicare) adults normally consumes about five times as much medical care as the youngest group.”

And if you think the 3 to 1 ratio will be met by lowering healthcare costs for the elderly, think again. Instead, the rates of healthy young people in Kentucky are what will change - in an upward direction.

The second factor contributing to the rising premiums are also due to outright mandates in Obamacare. These mandates force insurance providers to cover treatments not previously covered, regardless of if the insured value such services. These services range from treatments like drug or alcohol rehab, sexual health services, and psychological treatment. This one-size-fits-all mandate will drive up costs for both individual insurers and employer-group coverage.

Despite the assured rise in costs to his constituency, Gov. Beshear signed an executive order last year to unilaterally establish Obama's health exchanges in the commonwealth. Still, he's yet to expand Medicaid, and there's still hope he'll resist the President's national plan.

But I wouldn't hold my breath.