"Under PPACA and the Reconciliation Act, premiums for health insurance in the individual market will be somewhat higher than they would otherwise be, CBO and JCT estimate, mostly because the average insurance policy in that market will cover a larger share of enrollees' costs for health care and provide a slightly wider range of benefits. The effects of those differences will be offset in part by other factors that will tend to reduce premiums in the individual market; for example, purchasers in that market will tend to be healthier than they would have been under prior law, leading to lower average costs for their health care. Although premiums in the individual market will be higher on average, many people will end up paying less for health insurance—because the majority of enrollees purchasing coverage in that market will receive subsidies via the insurance exchanges.

Premiums for employment-based coverage obtained through large employers will be slightly lower than they would otherwise be; premiums for employment-based coverage obtained through small employers may be slightly higher or slightly lower."

"Health-insurance costs have already risen significantly since the passage of Obamacare, albeit at a slower rate than before, owing to a stagnant economy. Since the law imposes heavy costs on the insurance industry — through taxes and onerous regulations that force insurance companies to spend more on health expenses — insurance premiums will likely continue to rise.”

"Objective analysts have uniformly concluded that the new law raises – not lowers – national health-care spending. The rising bill for national health care spending will produce sustained upward pressures on health insurance premiums.

In addition, the law's array of insurance market reforms will increase premiums. Barring limits on annual and lifetime out-of-pocket spending, coverage of children's pre-existing conditions and the ability for children to stay on parents' policies are all initiatives that enhance benefits. These benefits must necessarily be covered by higher premiums."

"Our analysis estimates that the insurer fees [under Obamacare] will increase premiums in fully insured coverage markets by an average of 1.9% to 2.3% in 2014. The impacts generally increase over time such that we estimate by 2023, the fees will ultimately increase premiums by an average of 2.8% to 3.7%. For small group coverage, this will on average increase the cost to cover an individual by about $2,800, and a family by about $6,800 over a 10-year period, beginning in 2014."

"…[R]egardless of how you feel about the Affordable Care Act, its effect on premiums this year is modest. Most of the law's provisions don't go into effect until 2014. The two biggest changes this year allow young adults up to age 26 to stay on their parents' insurance policies and require some insurance plans to cover preventive services at no cost to patients. These are popular provisions that provide real benefits, and combined they account for about one to two percentage points of this year's premium increase."

"ObamaCare's Exchanges will actually RAISE premiums, not lower them. The Administration claim that Exchanges will lower premiums ignores the fact that ObamaCare's new benefit mandates will increase individual market insurance premiums overall -- by an average of $2,100 per family, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

…[Obamacare] requires the purchase of benefit packages that are more comprehensive than what many Americans would otherwise buy. These more generous benefit packages may mean higher premiums."

"This report outlines how the Affordable Care Act is strengthening the health care system for all Americans and helping to control health care costs. The report finds that the Affordable Care Act's reforms have helped reduce premiums and hold insurance companies more accountable, and the Administration's anti-fraud efforts alone will save $1.8 billion through 2015...

The MLR [Medical Loss Ratio] provision is already forcing insurance companies to carefully evaluate their rates, slow the rate of premium growth and, in some cases, decrease premiums..."

"We estimate that, on net, the combination of provisions in the new law will reduce health care spending by $590 billion over 2010–2019 and lower premiums by nearly $2,000 per family. Moreover, the annual growth rate in national health expenditures could be slowed from 6.3 percent to 5.7 percent...

Reducing insurer administration and modernizing the delivery of health care services will each result in reductions in private insurance premiums. Private premiums might be affected by other provisions as well. For example, an excise tax on high-premium health insurance plans, set to take effect in 2018, will introduce a strong financial incentive for insurers to trim benefits and reduce costs below a tax-free threshold of $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. Indexing this cap to the overall rate of inflation in the economy plus one percentage point will encourage insurers to seek out value and efficiency continually, thus placing downward pressure on premiums over time."

"Those significant premium savings [under Obamacare] are the result of bringing everyone into the insurance pool, as well as administrative savings from larger purchasing pools and prohibiting medical underwriting for health status and pre-existing conditions. And of course, the Affordable Care Act includes an array of reforms to reward quality and value, which will reduce health care costs over the long term.”

"You should know that once we have fully implemented [Obamacare], you're going to be able to buy insurance through a pool so that you can get the same good rates as a group that if you're an employee at a big company you can get right now -- which means your premiums will go down."