Health law led to $2.1 billion in savings for consumers, report says

A new report estimates that U.S. consumers who purchase their own health insurance saved $2.1 billion last year due to tougher rules in the federal healthcare law.

Thursday’s report by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that individual premiums would have been $1.9 billion higher in 2012 without the requirements in the federal Affordable Care Act. In addition, the nonprofit group said individual policyholders nationwide should receive $241 million in rebates this summer.

Insurers must issue rebates to individuals and small businesses if they don’t spend at least 80% of their annual premiums on medical care.

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This week, The Times reported that Blue Shield of California owes $24.5 million in rebates to thousands of small firms, and Anthem Blue Cross owes $12 million to some small businesses in the state. These rebates and additional amounts coming from other insurers must be paid by Aug. 1.

Separately, another report issued Thursday predicts that 3.7 million Californians, or about half of the state’s uninsured, will still be without coverage in 2016 despite the rollout of the healthcare law.

Contrary to the public’s perception, the introduction of federally subsidized private coverage and an expansion of Medicaid in most states won’t cover all legal residents, according to researchers from the Harvard Medical School and the City University of New York School of Public Health.

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