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Obamacare Was Going to Lower Health Care Costs. What Actually Happened

LowDown

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Hawking the Affordable Care Act (ACA) six years ago, President Barack Obama said, “Every single good idea to bend the cost curve and start actually reducing health care costs [is] in this bill.”

Team Obama projected that their version of health care reform—replete with the bells and whistles of “investments” in health information technology, health care delivery and payment reforms—would translate into big cost reductions for individuals, families and businesses. In his iconic health care “talking points”, the president said that the “typical” family would see a yearly $2500 savings in their health costs.

Those family cost savings, of course, have not materialized. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data show that total per capita health insurance spending will rise from $7,786 in 2016 to $11,681 in 2024. Looking at the future of employer-based health insurance costs, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that job-based premiums are poised to increase by almost 60 percent between now and 2025. Link

Many people could be forgiven for not understanding that the goal of reducing cost and expanding coverage are in conflict.

Obama can't be blamed for being unable to do the impossible, but he can be blamed for selling us this fraud with a pack of lies.
 
Many people could be forgiven for not understanding that the goal of reducing cost and expanding coverage are in conflict.

Obama can't be blamed for being unable to do the impossible, but he can be blamed for selling us this fraud with a pack of lies.

What really gets people about the increases is that they aren't for high claims turned in by the people being forced to pay. The people forced to pay the high premiums and deductibles are paying for the insurance coverage of others who ARE turning in high claims.

A big deal was made that high risk people would no longer be forced to pay (if they could) from those high risk pools. But what was supposed to happen, as I recall, was that they'd have to pay more, just not those ridiculously high risk pool amounts. What actually happened is that everyone in the individual market is charged according to age and whether they smoke, with no accounting for the claims they turn in. This forces OTHER people, who turn in fewer claims, to pay HIGH premiums to pay for the high claims of other.

It's the unfairness of the system, in combination with the hardship of paying the high premiums and other out of pocket amounts, that sticks in the craw of those affected.
 
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