Zeke Emanuel: Insurers hiking premiums to offset Obama's healthcare law

Insurers are raising rates in anticipation of President Obama's healthcare law taking full effect next year, former Obama healthcare adviser Ezekiel Emanuel said Monday.

Emanuel, who worked in the White House budget office during the healthcare debate, said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that double-digit premium hikes are "all in anticipation of 2014" and increased competition through new insurance exchanges.

"It's in anticipation of this dramatically changed marketplace. ... Everyone is sort of, 'Well, we don't know what the future is, so let's lock in as much money as we can,' " Emanuel said.

The biggest structural changes in the Affordable Care Act start next year. Those provisions include exchanges — new online marketplaces to buy insurance — as well as the ban on discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions.

Emanuel said the increased competition through exchanges will hurt insurers' profits, so because of "uncertainty about next year, they're trying to lock in high rates" now.

Insurance companies maintain that premiums rise because of increases in the underlying cost of healthcare services.

Emanuel said premium hikes in some states do stem in part from rising medical costs for some groups. Premiums are rising for individual plans and small businesses faster than they're increasing for large employers, Emanuel noted.

The healthcare law does not give the Obama administration the power to reject large premium increases, although some states have that authority.

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