As expected, when you have government as the main source of a product, you less of it, worse quality and higher prices. Note the direct cost to the consumer. This does not include the massive tens of billions in tax dollars used to subsidy bad health care.
“This greatly reduced competition because small- and medium-sized health insurance companies didn’t have enough gross premiums to still cover overhead and make a profit, so they dropped out.
Then they said that insurance companies could not have lifetime or annual limits on bills which further reduced competition because the smaller companies couldn’t afford the unlimited risk. Also, with no limits, health care providers have no incentive to control costs.
And prices soared instead of dropping as promised. A very small percentage of people are covered directly through Obamacare but all of us have been screwed with much higher prices and no freedom of choice because Democrat politicians want to control us.
The ACA also prohibits annual and lifetime limits on the dollar amount of coverage and restricts the amount of out-of-pocket costs individuals and families may incur each year for in-network care. Additionally, the law requires most health plans to cover preventive health services with no out-of-pocket costs.”
Under harris this will be worse—NO private insurance, NO private hospitals and NO private doctors—imagine a 19 year old deciding if you should get an operation or medicine! That is the Democrat Party plan!
Maybe we should examine how well Democrats controlled health care prices before we allow Kamala to destroy our country
By Jack Hellner, American Thinker, 8/19/24 https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/08/maybe_we_should_examine_how_well_democrats_controlled_health_care_prices_before_we_allow_kamala_to_destroy_our_country.html
Obamacare is a great example of how successful Democrats are when they pass laws that they falsely told the public would reduce health insurance prices by $2,500 per family.
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 was a 2,000-page monstrosity with thousands of pages of additional pages of new regulations and many new taxes. Any person with a brain would have known that the bill would cause price increases, not decreases, but no one was allowed to see the bill as passed.
The first thing it did was take away freedom of choice. It forced people and businesses to buy a Cadillac instead of a Ford or Toyota type of insurance. People weren’t allowed to buy cheaper policies. The government dictated what people and businesses had to buy. Insurance companies had a captive audience.
Then it said that insurance companies had to spend 80% to 85% of premiums on care because they thought profits were too high.
See this here, from the government itself:
The 80/20 Rule generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money they take in from premiums on health care costs and quality improvement activities. The other 20% can go to administrative, overhead, and marketing costs.
The 80/20 rule is sometimes known as Medical Loss Ratio, or MLR. If an insurance company uses 80 cents out of every premium dollar to pay for your medical claims and activities that improve the quality of care, the company has a Medical Loss Ratio of 80%.
Insurance companies selling to large groups (usually more than 50 employees) must spend at least 85% of premiums on care and quality improvement.
This greatly reduced competition because small- and medium-sized health insurance companies didn’t have enough gross premiums to still cover overhead and make a profit, so they dropped out.
Then they said that insurance companies could not have lifetime or annual limits on bills which further reduced competition because the smaller companies couldn’t afford the unlimited risk. Also, with no limits, health care providers have no incentive to control costs.
And prices soared instead of dropping as promised. A very small percentage of people are covered directly through Obamacare but all of us have been screwed with much higher prices and no freedom of choice because Democrat politicians want to control us.
The ACA also prohibits annual and lifetime limits on the dollar amount of coverage and restricts the amount of out-of-pocket costs individuals and families may incur each year for in-network care. Additionally, the law requires most health plans to cover preventive health services with no out-of-pocket costs.
The ACA imposes additional new regulations on private health plans sold to individuals and small businesses. These rules significantly limit the ways in which health plans can charge higher premiums.
In 2009, the average single premium was $92.43 per month. Today it is $703 per month or up over 660% in 15 years.
In 2009 the average family premium was $349 per month and today it is $1,997 per month or up 472%. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
The cost to employees for health insurance has increased as well. The average flat-rate premium paid by private industry workers increased from $67.57 per month for single coverage in 2004 to $92.43 per month for single coverage in 2009, and from $264.59 per month for family coverage in 2004 to $349.36 per month for family coverage in 2009.
There’s also this:
Individuals enrolled in group health plans paid an average annual premium of $8,435 in 2023 (about $703 per month), according to data from independent health and medical research firm KFF. For families, the total annual premium averaged at $23,968 — or about $1,997 per month.
Of course, the loving media and other Democrats will continue to intentionally lie to the public that Obamacare has made health care more affordable.
Democrats will be as successful controlling food prices and inflation as they have been at controlling health care prices with Obamacare which is not at all.
