Devastating demographic realities for the PPACA Exchanges. This is from Jed Graham at Investor's Business Daily:
[T]he number of people age 55 and over who have joined the exchanges is 29% above forecasts.
There are 1.1 young adult enrollees for every member age 55+. That young-to-old ratio was supposed to be 2.4-to-1.
ObamaCare's demographic mix is key because the law bars insurers from charging 64-year-olds more than three times the premium charged to 21-year-olds.
Before ObamaCare, older adults in the individual insurance market were charged up to five times more because their expected costs were, on average, about five times greater than the youngest adults.
Under ObamaCare, "older adults will be paying premiums that do not fully cover their expected medical expenses, while younger adults will be paying premiums that more than cover their expenses," Kaiser Family Foundation researchers Larry Levitt, Gary Claxton and Anthony Damico explained.
But the math doesn't work so well if young-adult enrollment lags behind, causing health and administrative costs that exceed premium revenue. The obvious response: increase premiums. ...
