the details<\/a>. The California exchange will have 13 insurance options, and the heavy competition appears to be driving down prices. The most affordable silver-level plan is charging $276-a-month. The second-most affordable plan is charging $294. And all this is before subsidies. Someone making twice the poverty line, say, will only pay $104-a-month.<\/p>\nSparer plans are even cheaper. A young person buying the cheapest \u201cbronze\u201d-level plan will pay $172 \u2014 and that, again, is before any subsidies.<\/p>\n
California is a particularly important test for Obamacare. It\u2019s not just the largest state in the nation. It\u2019s also one of the states most committed to implementing Obamacare effectively. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger \u2014 remember how that really happened? \u2014 California was the first state to begin building its insurance exchanges. The state\u2019s outreach efforts are unparalleled. Its insurance regulators are working hard to bring in good plans and make sure they\u2019re playing fair. If California can\u2019t make the law work, perhaps no one can. But if California can make the law work, it shows that others can, too.<\/p>\n
And perhaps others will. We\u2019re beginning to see competition drive down proposed rates in some exchanges around the country. Remember Maryland, where CareFirst grabbed headlines with a shocking 25 percent proposed increase in rates? More plans have streamed in with lower bids. Kaiser Permanente, for instance, is only increasing its rates next year by 4.3 percent \u2014 a modest increase that will make CareFirst\u2019s proposal almost impossible to sustain. My guess is when the exchange actually opens in October, CareFirst will have dropped its price substantially. If they don\u2019t, then Kaiser and others will grab all the market share.<\/p>\n
The way this competition can drive down rates is already evident in Oregon. There, one insurer came in with monthly premium costs in the $169 range, while other insurers asked to charge more than $400. But then, seeing what their competitors were charging, two insurers came back to the state\u2019s regulators and asked if they could refile at lower rates. Otherwise, they wouldn\u2019t be competitive in the exchange. The Obama administration was ecstatic to see this: It\u2019s exactly what they\u2019re hoping will happen across the country.<\/p>\n
Of course, California and Oregon are managing Obamacare particularly well. But the state-by-state nature of the Affordable Care Act creates really unusual political dynamics around how the law is perceived in its first year.<\/p>\n
Imagine it\u2019s the end of 2014. California now boasts a working, near-universal health-care system. Nothing perfect, but clearly a a success after the first year of implementation. Texas, meanwhile, is a bit of a mess. They didn\u2019t allow the Medicaid expansion so the state\u2019s poorest residents got nothing. They didn\u2019t help with the exchanges, or the outreach, so there aren\u2019t many choices, and premiums aren\u2019t as low one might hope.<\/p>\n
Viewed in isolation, Texas\u2019s problems would be deadly for the law. But viewed next to California, they might mainly be a problem for the political class in Texas, which has failed to implement a clearly workable law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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<\/a>Obamacare got some very good news on Thursday.<\/p>\n