At the White House Thursday morning, President Obama surrounded himself with middle-class families to tout the successes of the Affordable Care Act in bringing down health insurance premiums.
In a conference call that previewed the president's remarks, senior administration officials listed how much money has been returned to consumers under the legislation's medical loss ratio policy. The president pointed to the effect of this policy as an example that the legislation is working, addressing an audience largely comprised of representatives from community groups helping enroll Americans in the new health insurance marketplaces.
"For 2012, about 8.5 million people got an average of $100 rebate per family," one official on the call said. "This is money that is going out now in notices to consumers. It's cash in people's pockets. But in addition 77.8 million consumers saved about 3.4 billion up front. "
Known as the 80-20 rule, the policy mandates that insurance companies spend 80 percent of premium dollars on patient care and quality improvement. If companies spend any less they are required to provide rebates to their customers.
The officials also cited a study released by the Department of Health and Human Services showing that in the 11 states where data is available, premiums for the lowest-cost insurance plans on the individual market are 18 percent lower on average than premium estimates provided by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office when the ACA was passed.
The average cost in these 11 states for the so-called Silver Plan in 2014 is projected to be $321 per month, compared to the CBO's estimate of $392 per month. One official reminded reporters that this cost does not include any federal subsidies that an individual consumer may qualify for.
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