Obama to tout healthcare reform rebates

President Obama is expected Thursday to say 8.5 million U.S. households are getting insurance rebates because of healthcare reform, the White House said. "This is just one of the many ways the Affordable Care Act is giving consumers a better value for their healthcare dollar and making our healthcare system stronger," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters ahead of Obama's 11:25 a.m. remarks in the East Room, the largest room in the White House. The rebates this summer, which average about $100 per family, come from a law provision that requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care, instead of executive salaries or marketing. Carriers that don't meet this standard must rebate their customers. Obama's remarks come less than three months before uninsured Americans will be able to start signing up for subsidized individual health plans through the healthcare law. The new state-based "health benefits exchanges," which will start accepting applications in October, will offer coverage that starts in January. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday the exchanges in his state would likely drop private health-insurance rates more than 50 percent. "New York's health benefits exchange will offer the type of real competition that helps drive down health insurance costs for consumers and businesses," said Cuomo, a Democrat like Obama. State insurance regulators said 2014 rates would lower a $1,000 monthly premium in New York City to about $300. Carney told reporters similar reductions were found in other states, including California and Oregon. Obama's spokesman criticized House Republicans for trying to repeal or scale back the president's signature healthcare law. By their votes, he said, GOP lawmakers are saying "everyone out there who worries about whether they have, or a family member has, a pre-existing condition, and whether or not they'll get health insurance coverage, will continue to worry." The administration announced July 2 a delay for a year a provision of the new law that requires employers with 50 or more full-time employees to purchase health insurance or face penalties. The employer-mandate provision -- which the administration said it would delay because business owners expressed concerns about the law's complex reporting requirements -- was originally to start next year. House Republicans used that delay Wednesday to vote to hold off the individual mandate for a year, too. That provision is similar to the employer mandate but applies to most Americans. The individual-mandate delay vote was 251-174. The House voted 264-161 earlier Wednesday to codify the employer-mandate delay.