If only that were so. Nobody who tracks health insurance sees any sign of softening premium prices for people who already have insurance, Obamacare or not. Premiums for 2010 were up 10% and are predicted to keep growing at the same rate in coming years.

Health insurance is beginning to resemble air travel–where deep-pocketed business passengers subsidize penny-pinching vacationers. Insurance companies, under the measures in Congress, would be forced to take all comers, young and old, healthy and sick.

Over ten years they would confront $871 billion in spending on uninsured and newly subsidized customers, costs that would be passed along to the young and healthy. The federal government isn’t going to pick up all of that tab. So those now insured through a private plan at work or one bought individually will have to chip in.

If you’re thinking the legislation will tamp down overall health care spending, reconsider. Policy analysts ranging from the neutral Congressional Budget Office to the HMO lobby see no abatement in the growth rate of health care spending.

That sector of the economy is growing at a 7.4% annual rate, says actuarial firm Milliman. Medicare’s chief actuary, Richard Foster, thinks that the Senate bill would expand health spending by $234 billion above current projections.

The premium hikes will result from cost shifting, better known as passing the buck. The House and Senate insurance bills aim to cover their costs in part by cutting annual Medicare reimbursements to hospitals, doctors and drug companies by $45 billion.

For example, a pre-existing condition can make affordable insurance hard to find (for example, health insurance for diabetics). Fortunately, when it comes to obtaining health insurance, seniors have rights, as well as a number of different types of plans to choose from, through both government programs and private companies. You need information to help you make the right choices.

All seniors have access to the federally-subsidized Medicare program. In addition, they have the option of purchasing a Medicare supplement, also known as medigap insurance (note: not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program.).

For low income seniors or those living on a fixed income, there are some special programs like Medicaid that can help provide essential health insurance coverage.

Finally, there are many types of coverage, such as long term care, that go beyond traditional health insurance and can help guarantee freedom and financial stability for seniors as they get older.