Obamacare at Six Years: Failing to Address Sky-Rocketing Costs

Americans Paying More in Taxes and More for Care under the Law

From the start, President Obama’s heath law has been a series of broken promises.   And nearly six years later, the law’s negative consequences continue to plague the pocketbooks of patients and taxpayers. Take a look:

FACT: We were promised that Obamacare would lower health care costs by $2,500 for families.

•   But now, nearly six years later, premiums are going in one direction - up. According to the Obama administration, average Obamacare premiums are expected to rise by 7.5 percent this year alone. And according to recent analysis of Obamacare’s benchmark silver plans, costs are up by an unweighted average of 11.5 percent.

•   For patients in many states, it’s much worse in 2016:

o   In Minnesota, insurance policies on the exchange have rate hikes in the double digits - between 14 and 49 percent.
o   In Oregon, premiums for the benchmark plan on the exchange have risen by about 23 percent.
o   In Alaska, the premium hike is more than 31 percent for the benchmark plan.
o   In Oklahoma, the second lowest cost silver plan premiums increased more than 35 percent.
o   In Utah, plans on the federally-run exchange are 22 percent higher next year.

FACT: Rising health care costs remain one of the top concerns for Americans.

•   But Obamacare is not helping alleviate these concerns. In fact, a survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that nearly 80 percent of uninsured Americans that have looked for insurance said that, after weighing everything, they couldn’t afford the purchase.

FACT: Nearly six years later, Americans are not only paying more for healthcare, but more in taxes to pay for the health law.

•   According to the Congressional Budget Office, American households are feeling the impact at a rate of $20,000 in new taxes over the next 10 years.

FACT: According to updated enrollment estimates, Americans are not responding to Obamacare in the numbers originally thought.

•   In October 2015, the administration announced it was only expecting about 10 million people to enroll in the federal exchanges this year – less than half the number originally projected by CBO.

###

Next Article Previous Article