Prior to the Affordable Care Act, there wasn't a cap on how much revenue insurance companies could make off of premiums. In some markets, especially those for single individuals, revenue from insurance premiums was over 40%. The ACA implemented the 80/20 rule (and 85/15 rule for large group employer coverage) which by 2015, insurance companies revenue was capped to 20% profit and overhead expenditure from health insurance premiums. The rising rates were already in the works and were slowed down by the ACA.
Source, paraphrased: based upon the data we received from the first and second quarterly reports of 2011, 7 of the 12 issuers in the individual market and 6 of the 15 issuers in the large group market would not meet the MLR of 80 and 85 percent respectively.
With a multiplier of 2.00 (40% profit off of premiums), 3 of the 12 issuers in the individual market would not meet the MLR standard, and all issuers in the large group market would meet the MLR. (p. 76575, par. 9, Health & Human Services https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-12-07/html/2011-31289.htm)
Hah, thats a new one. The ACA supposedly slowed down price increases. Yet my costs keep going up every year. 2016,17 and now 18 is looking at a 200% increase from 2015 when I had to buy an ACA approved plan. Yes, prices were getting out of control but has it ever occurred to you that government influence in healthcare is the cause for the rising costs? Since the late 1960s, the Feds and state governments have become the Walmart of the medical industry. They have the largest customer base and thus the government sets the prices. The non welfare care customer pays higher prices at the doc's office to compensate the medical provider not making much if anything from the government based patients and pays more in taxes for the privilege. For pete's sake, the federal government, the CONgress for decades now has made it a felony to re-import cheap drugs back to America. Americans subsidize the world's cheap medical costs via that or via paying for their defense via NATO. But you know, its all about profit caps on insurance companies, not a ponzi scheme all around to enrich a few and give power to power hungry whore politicians.