When President Obama took office, the reform of our nation’s healthcare laws took center stage. While no one can argue that our healthcare system wasn’t in need of serious reform, the intensely partisan and murky way in which Obamacare was drafted and forced on the American people made it wrong for the country from the beginning. While I do support some of the reforms in Obamacare, such as protecting people with pre-existing conditions and young adults, I did not believe this law would lower costs, increase patient choice or make healthcare better and more affordable for all Americans.
Born from partisan back door deals and closed room meetings, Obamacare is a boondoggle of historic proportions. Candidate Obama pledged unprecedented transparency to the American people when running for President back in 2008. Yet the day he took office, President Obama got to work on one of the most opaque and closed door, big-government takeovers we have seen. Weighing in at over 2,700 pages, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), although deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court, is still a dangerous collaboration of bad legislating, smoke and mirrors mathematical calculations and costly policy.
We are now starting to see the true costs of Obamacare, as its provisions are starting to take effect. California looks to be one of the states hit the hardest by the costs associated with Obamacare. In California, insurance companies are raising rates- something that will wreak havoc on the budgets of individuals, families and small businesses.
This week the New York Times reported that; “In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders, according to the insurers’ filings with the state for 2013. These rate requests are all the more striking after a 39 percent rise sought by Anthem Blue Cross in 2010 helped give impetus to the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, which was passed the same year and will not be fully in effect until 2014.”
Below is a breakdown of some of the costliest consequences of Obamacare that we as a country are starting to see as various provisions of the law are starting to take effect:**
OBAMA PROMISED LOWER HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS BY NOW
As A Candidate, Obama Promised That His Health Care Reform Would Save American Families $2,500 By The End Of His First Term. OBAMA: “If you are ready for change, then we can stop talking about the outrage of 47 million people without health insurance and start doing something about it. I’ve put forward a plan that says everybody will have the same health care if they want it that I have as a member of Congress, that you can’t be excluded for pre-existing conditions, we’ll negotiate with the drug companies for the cheapest available prices. If you’re 25 or younger you can stay on your parents’ health insurance. If you’ve got health insurance, we’re going to work with you to lower your premiums by $2500 per family per year. And we will not wait 20 years from now to do it or 10 years from now to do it. We will do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Columbus, OH, 2/27/08)
OBAMACARE IS FORCING HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS TO INCREASE
Small Business Employees Should Prepare For “Sticker Shock” As ObamaCare Is “Contributing To Double-Digit Premium Increases.” “If you work for a small business, your next health insurance premium may give you sticker shock. Many of the small-business and individual insurance policies are working the health reform law’s 2014 fees into their 2013 bills, contributing to double-digit premium increases for some people.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Insurers’ 2014 Hikes Already Taking Toll,” Politico, 1/11/13)
Small Businesses And Individuals That Lack “Employer-Provided Insurance” Are Especially Susceptible To The High Premiums.“Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own.” (Reed Abelson, “Health Insurers Raise Some Rates By Double Digits,” The New York Times, 1/5/13)
- “But Many People Elsewhere Have Experienced Significant Jumps In The Premiums They Pay.” (Reed Abelson, “Health Insurers Raise Some Rates By Double Digits,” The New York Times, 1/5/13)
Provisions Mandated By ObamaCare Are Responsible For The Rise In Premiums
ObamaCare’s New Taxes On The Health Insurance Industry Are Contributing To Higher Premiums. “So the law’s drafters included a new tax on health insurers, starting at $8 billion in 2014 and increasing to $14 billion within four years, to help meet the new expenses. And insurers in 2014 will also have to pay a ‘reinsurance contribution’ to cushion health plans that end up with a lot of sick customers under new rules requiring them to cover people with pre-existing conditions.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Insurers’ 2014 Hikes Already Taking Toll,” Politico, 1/11/13)
- ObamaCare Mandates Are Pushing Premiums Higher. “All those new consumer benefits packed into the health reform law – birth control without a co-pay, free preventive care and limits on when insurers can turn down a customer – had to be paid for somehow.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Insurers’ 2014 Hikes Already Taking Toll,” Politico, 1/11/13)
EVEN WITH OBAMACARE, AMERICANS ARE SEEING DOUBLE DIGIT PREMIUM INCREASES
Some Small Group Policies In Washington, D.C., Illinois, Pennsylvania, And Connecticut Will See Double Digit Increases This Year.“Premiums for small group policies from CareFirst BlueChoice in the District will rise an average of 11.8 percent after April 1. The price of an Aetna small group plan in Illinois will jump 13 percent in 2013 and 16.5 percent in Pennsylvania. A small group policy from Anthem in Connecticut will increase 13.8 percent this year, too.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Insurers’ 2014 Hikes Already Taking Toll,” Politico, 1/11/13)
A Federal Study Produced By Health And Human Services (HHS) Found That 36 Percent Of The Insurance Industry’s “Requests To Raise Rates By 10 Percent Or More Were Found To Be Reasonable.” “According to the federal analysis, 36 percent of the requests to raise rates by 10 percent or more were found to be reasonable.” (Reed Abelson, “Health Insurers Raise Some Rates By Double Digits,” The New York Times, 1/5/13)
- Insurers In States Like Florida And Ohio Have Raised Premiums “At Least 20 Percent” Which “Amount To Several Hundred Dollars A Month.” “In other states, like Florida and Ohio, insurers have been able to raise rates by at least 20 percent for some policy holders. The rate increases can amount to several hundred dollars a month.” (Reed Abelson, “Health Insurers Raise Some Rates By Double Digits,” The New York Times, 1/5/13)
- Three Health Insurance Companies In California Are Requesting Premium Increases Upwards Of 20 Percent. “In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders, according to the insurers’ filings with the state for 2013.” (Reed Abelson, “Health Insurers Raise Some Rates By Double Digits,” The New York Times, 1/5/13)
REPORTS CONTINUE TO SHOW THAT AMERICANS AREN’T BETTER OFF WITH OBAMACARE
Americans Aren’t “Better Off” As The Increase In Health Care Premiums Has Outpaced “The Rise In Wages.” “Slower growth in health insurance premiums doesn’t mean workers are better off, however. The 4 percent increase in the cost of job-based health benefits is still higher than the rise in wages, which went up 1.7 percent, or inflation, which was 2.3 percent, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Health Research and Educational Trust and the journal Health Affairs noted in a press release.” (Jeffrey Young, “Health Care Costs For Workers Almost Doubled Since 2002, New Survey Finds,” The Huffington Post , 9/11/12)
- Under Obama, Families Pay An Average Of $255 More On Monthly Health Care Premiums. (“Employer Health Benefits; 2012 Annual Survey,” The Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/11/12; “Employer Health Benefits; 2008 Annual Survey,” The Kaiser Family Foundation, 2/23/99))
- Under Obama, Americans Pay An Average Of $76 More On Monthly Health Care Premiums. (“Employer Health Benefits; 2012 Annual Survey,” The Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/11/12; “Employer Health Benefits; 2008 Annual Survey,” The Kaiser Family Foundation, 2/23/99)
FactCheck.org: ObamaCare Is Actually Making Health Care “Less Affordable.” “At the moment, the new law is making health care slightly less affordable. Independent health care experts say the law has caused some insurance premiums to rise. As we wrote in October, the new law has caused about a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans because of requirements for increased benefits. Last year’s premium increases cast even more doubt on another promise the president has made – that the health care law would ‘lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.'” (D’Angelo Gore, “Promises, Promises,” FactCheck.org, 1/4/12)
**Courtesy of Republican National Committee Research