In 2010, we passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) under President Barack Obama. It is also known as “Obamacare.” It set up a marketplace for people to get insurance. It created a marketplace for people to buy insurance plans and got rid of pre-existing condition restrictions among other things. It is especially helpful if your job doesn’t offer insurance or you are looking for a more affordable option.
Unfortunately, the premiums on these health plans from the Marketplace have gone up over the last few years. Republicans have tried to repeal this act 60 times since 2010.
This act gave insurance to millions of people. Half of non-elderly adults still get insurance from work. Premiums on these employer plans are growing slower than average.
Yes, many people are still struggling to pay their health care bills even with insurance. However, before the ACA passed, all premiums were rising roughly 10 percent per year. These costs could change depending on how sick you were.
Insurance companies were free to deny coverage or charge more if you have a “pre-existing” condition.
Unfortunately, incomes have not gone up enough to keep up with these rising prices, even though employers’ health premiums and executive salaries are going up.
Professor John Gruber of MIT is one of the architects behind the ACA.
In an October interview, when the Obama administration announced the higher premiums for 2017, he said:
“It’s not. I think the most important part that’s being missed is the fact that these are not the premiums the vast majority of Americans face. So most Americans get insurance through their employer. What’s not being reported is, since Obamacare passed, employer-sponsored premiums have grown at their slowest rate in history. That’s not getting any headlines.
“There’s a small minority of people who buy insurance through the exchange. Most of them also aren’t affected by these premium increases because they get health insurance subsidies. So it’s really only a very small share of the public that’s affected by these premium increases, which I don’t think you’d realize if you read the headlines.”
Many people are experiencing higher premiums because some companies are not providing insurance in their state anymore. Some states, such as Alabama, only have one company offering health insurance.
This, of course, causes price hikes.
Here is another architect of the ACA talking about the premiums:
https://youtu.be/DBv3izw4ZHA
Featured image via YouTube screenshot.
