Obamacare Will Become Reality: What Does it Mean for You? (Premiums Up and Up)

Despite uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff and whether or not President Obama can make "compromise" a theme of his second term, one thing is for certain: the Affordable Care Act, widely referred to as "Obamacare" is going to take effect. The lion's share of the law is to be implemented on January 1, 2014. The major tenets that will impact Americans include the individual mandate and the pre-existing conditions clause that will not allow insurers to refuse coverage to anyone, even if they are in poor health.

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And once the law actually goes into effect it's the pre-existing conditions provision that has the potential to do a lot of damage to the consumer, according to Funtleyder. He says it is "likely insurance companies will raise premiums on everybody, given the mandate, to deal with the number of pre-existing conditions that come into the fold." And that is one of the many key criticisms of the plan: little to no direct cost-control.

(Excerpt) Read more at [link to finance.yahoo.com]