Supposedly Governor Romney’s health care reform will lower health insurance costs for those in the individual market. The problem is that it will shift the cost to the small-group market by mixing the small-group pool and the individual pool together. According to Robert Flynn:

The new law merges non-group and small business risk pools and experts predict a premium increase from 2 percent to 8 percent. If we add that to our current medical and pharmacy trends, we could see cost increases of 16 percent to 22 percent in 2007.

The new law also addresses and extends health care for longer periods those who lose their IRS dependent status. Actuaries will have to include this risk into their rates, which will then be passed onto the employers.