Oh for the love of God.....
Do they necessarily tripple. NO. I never said they did. They do for some people under the ACA and here is why.
Previously under all group plans, there was one rate for everyone ( or for each family group) based on the average age for all the subscribers of that group. So, if you had two people and one was 25 and one was 50 they average age was 37.5. So depending on the categories for coverage, the cost of coverage for both the 25 year old would be exactly the same. If the company had 10 employers, and they were 22, 24, 26, 26, 27,27,27, 29, 31 and 57, then the 57 year old would have been really benefiting because the rate would have been calculated at the average age of 29.6 .
Not so for small employers anymore.
If a small group employer decides to offer health insurance, there are other ACA mandated provisions that may affect the cost of these plans. First, Guaranteed Issue means that no one can be denied coverage or be charged higher premiums because of their health status or because of pre-existing conditions. Second, with Rating Changes, the cost of insurance can be based only on age, where someone lives, family size, and whether or not they use tobacco.
http://www.aetna.com/health-reform-connection/reform-explained/video-SGimpact.html
For a small employer each person gets their own rate. So instead of that older employee getting the benefit of being on a group plan which used the average age of young employees to offset the costs of the older and sicker employee, now that older employee gets his own rate. And, depending on the make-up of the group, and regular premium increases - yes, the rate can be triple what he previously paid. And, if he decides to go try to get it on the exchange, his employer can't pay him for his insurance as a pre-tax deduction. So, He can't go buy his own insurance, and then get the company to pay a large portion of the bill. So, his choices are to take the higher rate he now has to pay becuase he doesn't get the benefit of the cost sharing in the group, or go buy his own insurance, which is not necessarily cheaper than what his employer is offering but may be, and then not be able to get the benefit tax free like other employees.
Which when you consider that that is 7.65 % right off the top of savings lost to the employee, that can be a very very big deal.
connie