Gov’t survey confirms slowdown in US health insurance gains

He notes many insurance companies have dropped out of the program nationwide and says he believes it’s close to collapse.

In the midst of disturbing news regarding 2017 marketplace premium increases and insurer exits, it is important to remember that the Affordable Care Act is still accomplishing its basic goal – expanding insurance coverage.

Here is a logical question: If the ACA is failing so completely in delivering on its promises, why keep it?

Here is more of what Health and Human Services told us regarding the Affordable Care Act in Georgia.

The numbers for 2014 and 2015 are for full calendar years. Aetna-who is the most recent insurer to flee the exchanges-reported a loss of $20 million in its exchange business in just the second quarter. With the election looming, and with widespread Republican opposition to the law, such a change would be unlikely before the next open enrollment begins in November.

The claim initially proved false for millions due to one-size-fits-all coverage requirements in the ACA.

“The Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicaid expansion provisions of the Affordable Care Act have contributed to large reductions in the uninsured rate in both rural and urban areas”.

“In Illinois, they’re going to be paying 45 percent more next year”.

Arizona is bracing for double-digit premium hikes next year. But many others quite logically are focused on the millions of people who are finding they have fewer and fewer choices for insurance through the health exchanges and higher and higher costs.

Following the ACA’s 2012 mandate that insurers fully cover all contraceptive methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the percentage of oral contraceptives filled at no cost to the patient rose drastically, from six percent to 92%, according to a Health Affairs study. With 9 million Medicaid expansion enrollees in 2015, this amounts to a $19 billion mistake and a substantial additional burden on federal taxpayers.

ACA supporters have more ideas: greater outreach to eligible young, healthy people; higher penalties for failure to enroll; fewer required benefits; narrower networks. We use the insurance a lot; one of us has severe arthritis. Many underestimated the health of people coming on to the new programs. As written in 2010, the Affordable Care Act forced states to increase the number of people on Medicaid, by increasing the income limit for eligibility.

Almost 4 out of 5 Marketplace consumers are very or somewhat satisfied with their health insurance and are just as satisfied with their coverage as people with employer plans.

It was a disaster for Obamacare right out of the gate and the hue and cry forced the president to administratively create exemptions that restored coverage for at least some of those who were displaced.

But Washington should end the requirement that all insurance plans meet federal minimum standards.

Without competition, health insurance prices invariably go up, in some cases substantially.

The nation’s progress in getting more people covered by health insurance slowed significantly this year, the government confirmed Wednesday in a report that tempers a historic achievement of the Obama administration.

“The news that Americans living in more than 6 in 10 counties next year will only have one or at most two healthcare options under Obamacare is another extraordinary indictment of this law and Hillary Clinton’s disastrously poor judgment”, national policy adviser to Donald Trump Stephen Miller said in a statement.

Subsidies could be provided through a refundable tax credit to individuals, or through block-grants to the states that can be distributed like we do with cash welfare assistance. So do some local governments and insurance agents.