Bette Midler: Radical right ‘fuming’ about health premium drop in NY

http://twitter.com/#!/BetteMidler/status/357888429901611009

There are a few things to consider before taking the claim Midler tweeted at face value:

http://twitter.com/#!/Bburtcpa/status/357849198625959936

New York state has unique health care circumstances, and as Avik Roy pointed out in the Forbes column linked in the tweet above, the state’s health care system has gotten so out of control that health insurance premiums in the state have nowhere to go but down:

It’s always better to see rates go down rather than up, but you have to remember the context. New York’s rates will still be three times higher than those found in California before Obamacare. And the Times inflated the impact of the ACA, implying that average [monthly] premiums in New York City exceed $1,000 today vs. $308 under Obamacare; by our analysis, using a fairer comparison, the five-borough average for affordable coverage was $695, with a much lower average upstate.

…

As a guy who lives in Manhattan, I’m glad to see Obamacare move the city’s individual insurance market in the right direction. But New York’s rates will remain far higher than they are in other states. And in those other states—states like California and Ohio—premiums are set to go up dramatically.

Democrats will be asking people like Bette Midler to push this manufactured exception in order to convince as many people as possible it’s the general rule, and that’s far from the case.

Related:

Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146%