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Obamacare: Why premiums are rocketing

Since the day President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law in 2010, Republicans have assailed the program while promising “to provide cheaper, better health care without major coverage losses.” But their abject failure to deliver a plan has become “a running joke in Washington,” and the idea that it will happen now “is so fanciful” even GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene “has mocked it.” That’s why, with their own constituents getting sticker shock, a Republican compromise on subsidies may be coming. GOP lawmakers may hate Obamacare, but “they know the voters disagree.”

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  ObamaCare Facts

The ObamaCare Health Insurance Exchange Marketplace opened Oct 1st, 2013. The ObamaCare health insurance exchanges, or ObamaCare exchanges, are online marketplaces for health insurance. Americans can use their State's "Affordable" Insurance Exchange (also known as a marketplace) to obtain coverage from competing private health care providers.

  Six Reasons to Not Extend the Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies

Biden’s pandemic-era Obamacare premium subsidies were sold as temporary relief but have instead produced fraud, phantom enrollees, and subsidies for wealthy taxpayers who don’t need them. The program funnels billions of taxpayer dollars to insurers and middlemen while distorting the individual market and doing little to expand meaningful access to care. Congress can stand up to the insurance industry by letting these temporary COVID-era subsidies expire as scheduled. Or better yet, repeal them entirely. The enhanced subsidies are a costly reminder of how temporary government programs can become billion-dollar permanent entitlements.

 The Falsehoods of Obamacare

A Dozen Broken Promises, Seven Million Canceled Plans, and Hundreds of Billion in Debt. In reality, the ACA has been extremely profitable for insurers even after the individual mandate—which penalized Americans for failing to purchase their product—was repealed. The growth in insurer stock prices has multiplied between two to three times as much as the average increase in the S&P 500 over the past decade.56 In essence, the government now guarantees a profit margin for insurers and every year directs increasing amounts of taxpayer dollars into their coffers. Meanwhile, the cost-containing provisions in the ACA that insurers most disliked—the Cadillac tax and the health insurance tax—have been repealed.

Articles of Interest

The problem with Obamacare is Obamacare

If the ACA had worked as promised, premiums would have risen much slower than they have. In fact, premiums have risen so fast, it has undercut the original design of the program, and now, politicians are calling for an expansion. In any context, it is unwise to spend additional money on a failed program without reforming it to fix the underlying problem, and it is no different with the ACA.

What’s Behind the Dispute Over Extending Health Care Subsidies

The government shutdown fight has spotlighted a debate between Republicans and Democrats about whether and how much the government should subsidize health care.

Why are the enhanced Obamacare subsidies so controversial?

Democrats and Republicans clashed over several issues during the government shutdown, which came to an end late Wednesday night. However, the enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act—more commonly known as Obamacare—were by far the most prominent point of contention. But why was that the case?

Insured, but Not Covered

It is true that the Affordable Care Act has erased some of the more egregious practices of the American health insurance system that left patients bankrupt or losing homes to pay bills. But by endorsing and expanding the complex new policies promoted by the health care industry, the law may in some ways be undermining its signature promise: health care that is accessible and affordable for all.

National Health Insurance - 50 Million Reasons

Despite the advent of Obamacare, most estimates indicate that about 50 million Americans remain uninsured. So, why can't the United States insure all its citizens like the rest of the industralized world?

Obamacare is having a surprisingly good year

It’s time to rethink the individual mandate.

ObamaCare, Is There a Fix?

It’s not defunding ObamaCare or granting everyone the current ‘federal worker option’ or even socialized medicine. Just ask our neighbors, the Canadians.

Obamacare: Good Medicine, Bad Politics or the Other Way Around?

Many people believe that the U.S. health care system is “sick” and needs resuscitation. But, doesn’t the United States deliver some of the best medical care in the world? And for heaven’s sake why would even Canadians cross the border for medical care when they already have a system envied by many? So, why Obamacare?

Obamacare: What it can -- and can't -- do for you

With Americans free today to start signing up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, most of the 47 million people in the U.S. who lack such coverage are unaware that the program is set to launch, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Obamacare could bring big savings, but challenges remain. Such confusion is perhaps understandable given the scope and complexity of the landmark health law, better known as Obamacare. Yet the program's success depends in part on quickly overcoming this knowledge gap. Here's what you need to know.

Obamacare’s Secret Success

With little notice, the ACA has racked up a big win – near-universal coverage.

Republicans Killed the Obamacare Mandate. New Data Shows It Didn’t Really Matter.

Many experts now view the individual mandate as a policy that did little to increase health coverage — but did a lot to invite political backlash.

Six ways healthcare and politics have changed since Obamacare

The sweeping health reform law has been praised by Democrats and demonized by Republicans. It has survived a botched rollout, two challenges in the Supreme Court, and dozens of votes to repeal it in Congress.

Take politics out of health care before reforming it

For most Americans, few issues are as visceral and ubiquitous as health care. Voters tend to focus more on the immediate events in their lives, like hospital bills and treatment plans or affording chemotherapy for our mothers and prescription drugs for our fathers.

The ACA gave more Americans insurance, but not the health care they need

Even before the Affordable Care Act became law, about 90 percent of the conversation and criticism of it was about coverage. Little has been said about its ability to control costs.

The Latest Ruling Against Obamacare Is a Bridge Too Far—Even for SCOTUS

Here are the two things you need to know about this decision: There is slim to no chance it will stand on appeal, and it should not affect your life at all.

The Lessons of Obamacare

What Republicans should have learned, but haven't.

Trump doesn't have a big, beautiful health plan; Obamacare works and needs a public option

A government-run plan would provide competition to private insurers and guarantee coverage was always available to Americans.

Why Obamacare wouldn’t have worked anyway

The Affordable Care Act, despite its merits, was doomed because it failed to acknowledge that health, and more specifically affordable health, has little to do with access to a physician.

Will Obamacare Really Go Under the Knife?

Republicans spent almost seven years waging a battle to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Finally, they are set up for victory — or a new kind of disappointment.

Resources

Covered California

You may have thought you couldn't afford health insurance, but Covered California will provide the tools for you to shop for health insurance that meets your health care needs and financial realities. The federal law called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides a number of ways for individuals and employers to help make coverage more affordable.

HealthCare.gov

The Health Insurance Marketplace is a new way for you to buy health insurance. In the Marketplace, there are 4 categories of health insurance plans based on how you and the plan can expect to share the costs of care.