Tennessee, Louisiana Added To the List Of States Getting Double-Digit Obamacare Premium Hikes

From the Daily Caller:

Obamacare customers in Tennessee and Louisiana are now a part of the growing list of Americans who are facing double-digit premium hikes in the wake of the health care law.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee, the largest health insurer in the state, is upping its exchange premiums by an average of 19 percent, according to rate request filings. Humana is requesting an average 14.4 percent increase and Cigna is asking for a 7.5 percent rate increase

Louisiana customers will face even larger hikes. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, the largest insurer in Louisiana as well, has proposed rate hikes between 18.3 percent and 19.7 percent for Obamacare customers...

Humana in Louisiana hopes to hike its rates by 15.7 percent...

According to The Tennesean, BlueCross has the majority of health insurance marketplace members in Tennessee.

The Tennesean quoted Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee spokesman Roy Vaughn as saying that customers who signed up on the Obamacare exchanges were using more health services than had been anticipated, hence the requested premium hikes were necessary, Vaughn said, because they would allow the company to "break even" for its plans on the federal exchange.

"Based on our claims experience through the first half of this year, we're paying out more than we expected," said Vaughn. "In fact, we're in a loss position that will be in the tens of millions of dollars."

That loss is, in part, due to the fact that more patients who signed up for health care on the exchange were sicker than insurance companies had expected. They tended to use more health services than the company predicted they would, too.

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker on Friday issued a statement on the double digit Obamacare hike saying that, "I'm hopeful the Senate might finally be allowed to debate ways to provide relief from the damaging effects of this law... The president's health care bill was sold to Tennesseans and the country as a way to bring down health care costs, yet it has done just the opposite as we continue to see double digit increases in the cost of plans."

Mr. Vaughn said that Blue Cross Blue Shield was raising Obamacare premiums in order to avoid millions of dollars in losses. However, it's safe to assume that we will also witness a significant hike in all other health insurance plans, including private and employer-based health insurance, in order to make up for the losses that the insurance companies are incurring from Obamacare. And, in all likelihood, we've already witnessed this phenomenon......