Walker Opposition to ObamaCare Costing Wisconsinites lots on the Exchanges. It'll be getting worse too...

Want to make the Affordable Care Act's exchanges look bad? Intentionally make sure the rates go through the roof, like Scott Walker is doing.

November is the next signup date, and again, Walker's refusal to negotiate premium prices on the exchange will pick the pocket of everyone in the individual market. But that's just the beginning.

Ideological Neglect: I guess if you want to prove a point, you can manufacture a crisis easily enough. Walker is making sure Wisconsin families don't get a break on the exchanges, because he's getting government out of the way lowering prices. The price differences will astound you:

New Report: Wisconsin Health Insurance Costs Higher Due to State Actions: Report finds states which accept enhanced Medicaid dollars, implement robust rate review, and elect insurance commissioners lower health insurance premiums. The report uses statistical research techniques to demonstrate a relationship between state policy choices and health insurance rates. The report is based on first year 2014 premiums rates in 34 states.

The report finds that the average Wisconsin resident will pay over $250 more per year because of failure to accept the funds for BadgerCare, while having a robust system of reviewing insurance rates could have reduced rates as much as $747.12 a year for the average individual plan.

1. In states that opt to reject federal Medicaid expansion funds, first year private insurance individual market rates are on average $373.68 per year higher.

2. States such as Wisconsin which took other steps to limit the "coverage gap" when rejecting enhanced Medicaid funds still had premiums $251.29 per year higher than states which accepted the money.

3. States with robust rate review which includes "prior authorization" for rate increases had first year insurance rate reductions of $747.12 on the individual market.

4. States with elected insurance commissioners experienced a $519.84 reduction in private costs per year on the individual market.

“This report shows that health insurance rates in states like Wisconsin are higher than they need to be,” said Kevin Kane, Lead Organizer for Citizen Action of Wisconsin, who performed the data analysis for the report.

The report finds that contrary to conservative critiques of the Affordable Care Act, state policies are one of the largest determinants of health care cost variations between states