Hello President Obama,
When the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2010, the average family premium was about $13,000. We were told costs would go down.
Today, it’s $23,968, far above the inflation-adjusted $19,381. For my self-employed family, health insurance is our single largest expense.
Here’s why the ACA drives costs up:
In 2017, I had jaw surgery. The cash price was $13,000. My insurer was billed $38,000, and paid it. Every appointment requires hours of administrative wrangling between doctors and insurers. That labor cost is baked in. And when government and employers subsidize most premiums, market pressure to lower costs is weak.
The average family now pays the equivalent of one or two major surgeries per year in premiums, often without seeing real value, since deductibles eat up the benefit for those who rarely use care.
Since your presidency, life expectancy has dropped. Chronic disease rates have climbed. Obesity is peaking only because $1,000/month Ozempic prescriptions mask it. This is not a healthier America.
The ACA may be “affordable” for those with large subsidies, but it is unaffordable for many small businesses and self-employed families. It is very affordable, however, for insurance companies; Blue Cross made over $400M in profit last year.
You celebrate the ACA as a success. For many of us, it is the reason health care is our biggest financial burden.
If your question is whether we can let others weaken Obamacare, my answer is: Yes. We can.