In August, I reported that five healthcare insurance carriers in Idaho had requested rate hikes for 2018 policies anywhere from 25% to as much as 81%, with the average statewide rate hike of about 38%. That means if an individual is paying $300 per month for healthcare insurance in 2017, he or she could see their 2018 premium jump to around $414 per month. If a family is paying about $500 per month for coverage of the whole family, their 2018 premiums could jump to $690 per month on average. This huge rate increase will undoubtedly force more people to cancel their healthcare coverage because they can’t afford to pay out that much every month.

In September, I reported:

“State officials sounded the alarm Wednesday on Capitol Hill about skyrocketing ObamaCare premiums as insurers across the country propose double-digit rate hikes – renewing pressure on Congress to act.” 

“Insurance commissioners and officials from Alaska, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Washington state all testified before a Senate committee on the 2018 premium hikes, which are being finalized over the next few weeks.” 

“In Alaska, premiums have increased 203 percent since 2013, according to Lori Wing-Heier, the state’s director of the Division of Insurance.”

Additionally, in the September post, I listed 19 posts from other sources that have reported and discussed healthcare premium rate increases just in 2015 and 2016.

Now it’s time to add Florida to the list of states looking at huge double-digit premium increases for 2018 healthcare policies. Six healthcare insurance providers in Florida – Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Celtic Insurance Company, Florida Health Care Plan, Health First Commercial Plans, Health Options, and Molina Healthcare of Florida – have all requested rate increases that average out at 45%. Molina Healthcare of Florida submitted the highest rate increase request of 71%.

Based just on the average of 45%, that means an individual paying $300 in 2018 would see his or her rate jump to around $435 on average and if they have a Molina Healthcare of Florida policy, it could jump to $513 per month.

 A family paying $500 per month would see an average increase up to around $725 per month. If they are carrying a Molina plan, their $500 per month premium would jump to $855 per month.

However, my base estimates are low compared to the report that said on average, a family healthcare plan will run around $17,000 a year for 2018. That averages out to about $1,417 per month. That’s more than most people’s mortgage payment, making healthcare their biggest expenditure. How many of you can afford to pay out $1,417 per month for healthcare?

What doesn’t make sense is that no one in Congress seems to want to repeal Obamacare until they have something better to replace it with. So far, all of the various Republican plans have fallen short, with the Congressional Budget Office reporting that millions of Americans would lose their healthcare coverage under all of the plans Republicans have submitted so far.

If nothing is done, millions are already going to lose their healthcare coverage because they can’t afford to pay the outrageously high premiums. Yet not that long ago, Pelosi was still saying that Obamacare has not necessarily raised the cost of healthcare that much, proving she has no sense of reality or she is suffering from a form of senile dementia.

If nothing is done, Obamacare will result in many millions of Americans losing their coverage which will inevitably cause Obamacare to completely collapse, which would leave millions more people without coverage.

Every form of national socialized healthcare being used around the world is having serious financial problems, which should be a clear indication that the idea needs to be totally scrapped. There is NO WAY POSSIBLE for Republicans or Democrats to come up with a plan that will be better than Obamacare without doubling taxes to pay for it and I don’t know of anyone who likes that idea.

So, what is the solution? Let me say there is NO real solution that will make everyone happy without doubling taxes or bankrupting the nation. One way or another, many people are going to lose coverage, whether Obamacare remains, is fixed, replaced or repealed. Like it or not, the only viable solution is to return healthcare to the free market system we had before Obamacare screwed it all up.