It is now year 3 since the birth of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.  The search for affordability for all continues.  Today’s article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the rise of health insurance premiums in California’s state-exchange, Covered California.  Milliman, an actuarial consulting firm, highlights some important figures:

Nationally, the subsidies will be available on a sliding scale for people with annual incomes of up to four time the poverty level – or $45,960 for individuals and $94,200 for a family of four.

The law’s changes due to the individual health-insurance market could cumulatively push up premium rates in California by 14%, on average.

Note the following statement:

Those receiving subsidies could see large decreases in what they would owe towards premiums – an 84% drop in the case of the lowest-income group.

Outside the law, the cost of health care continues to rise due to health-care cost inflation:

Currently insured people whose income is too high to qualify for subsidies, premiums could go up 30% on average next year.