"Affordable" Care Act led to an across the board 60% increase in premiums...

... according to an article in Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapo...are-act-that-increased-premiums/#2a7e4b3711d2

Your "article in Forbes" would be better described as "an opinion column published on Forbes' website by the director of a right-wing think tank funded by the Koch brothers, among other big-business interests."

Premiums have been increasing faster than inflation for decades. How can we be sure any increase can be attributed to the ACA?

Did you read the article and see the data?

Premium Growth from 2009 - 2013: Average about 10%
Premium Growth from 2013-2017: Average about 60%

That data though.

If you have conflicting numbers to share, let's see them.

"You know what would make things cheaper and more efficient? A lot of government regulation!" said no sane person ever.

You don’t say. Next you’ll tell me we can’t keep our doctor...oh wait, that already happened.

It might be the worst thing that race hustling Muslim loving Chicago hood rat did to this country

Premiums increased under O-care more than in past because in order to sell an "Obamacare compliant plan" the ins. co's had to stuff the policies with many expensive things previously not part of typical health insurance plan. Kinda "glad" now that our premiums "only" increased by around 19% from 2017.

Learned that our employees in 2016 paid more for HI coverage through our company, around 4000 a year through payroll deductions, even though they only pay half of premiums, and me and my partner pay the other 50%. That's right, it was cheaper pre O-care for an individual to buy a plan on the "open market" and pay 100% of premiums themselves than for them to buy United Healthcare Group Plan coverage via their employer where they need only pay 50% of the premiums. And the plans they bought on the open market were plans that they could actually use.

Which is the icing on the cake - with $5000 deductible, our "min-wage" workers (who all exceed min wage rates) did not get use any of their "insurance" since not a single one of them (15 of 140 signed up in 2017) had health expenses that exceeded the deductible.

Fuckin liberals that supported ocare are a bunch of liars or idiots or power-hungry bureaucratic a-holes.

You . . . you mean Obamacare didn't work the way the democrats said it would?

Imagine my surprise.

It worked fine for me. Funny how the "solution" to increasing health care costs from "Libertarians" and "Conservatives" is to screw somebody else.

Because Obama, obviously.

The insurers will price themselves out of business. One more step toward single payer.

Guess some people are more savvy than others.

Nope, an increase in average premiums would be pretty much expected if you're going to cover the costs of patients with previously existing conditions as well as make premiums at the low end affordable. I don't know that the unsourced numbers from this op-ed are correct, but they very well could be.

Libtards who complain about the right-wing "echo chamber" turn around and dismiss a dissenting voice based solely on the magazine it was published in. The Left has its own echo chamber, and sadly doesn't recognize it.

Now watch @tafkats completely miss the point of my post.

The point is, you don't know the difference between a fact and an opinion.

So, the not so affordable care act then?

.... is pretty cherry picked.

"For years starting with 2014, the data include ACA-compliant, non-employer-sponsored plans sold both on and off exchanges. It does not include premium subsidies, which in any case are available only to on-exchange purchasers with qualifying income."

In that it isn't comparing apples to apples. The ACA actually required insurance to cover things. So a lot of super cheap but ultimately useless plans got dropped. Insurance companies had to offer better plans, which Yes increased premiums which is why the ACA included premium subsidies (which the blog post author didn't include).

For apples to apples you'd want to see premium increases only for plans that were ACA compliant before 2014.

I'd also like to see a larger timeline. There is a lot more history than just 09-13.

Also hidden on the second page of the blog post it does admit that EPOs saw a decrease in premiums and that more and more people are switching to EPOs. But the author has decided these don't count b/c he doesn't like them.

So yeah, about what I would expect in a blog post from a Koch hack.

Is data opinion, hmm, that's new to me.

Here's some data for you. What's the over and under on how long it takes to be dismissed out of hand by the Obama haters?

Yes, premiums probably have gone up 60% since the ACA passed in 2009. So what? It was going up 18% per year on average since 1960. That means premiums increased at a much lower rate after the ACA.

I am willing to bet much of tgat 60% happened in the last year too as Trump has been deliberately trying to destabilize the market and drive up costs.

What was it just for 2017 and 2018?

It certainly helps keep rates cheaper here. The California Insurance Commission routinely rejects rate increases proposed by insurance companies because the companies cannot demonstrate a need. Now, prices still go up (just as they do in the rest of the country but at a lower rate) but when they request a 25% increase and only get a 9% increase then everyone saves.

Though I get VA healthcare so it is academic to me.

The only reason I can afford to have insurance is because the Fed offers a credit payment option because I am a registered member of a Federally-recognized tribe. Essentially, they pay the insurance company most of my monthly bill for me, which would otherwise be nearly $300 a month (for the cheapest option available).

IOW, you're covered under a Federal program...kinda like the ACA.

You've missed the point again, like usual.

If we take away your subsidy that would make everything better!

No. You're a libertarian who's dependent on a Gubmint subsidy.

I'm only "dependent" on it because the ACA requires me to have insurance to begin with.

At the end of the day having insurance is a very good thing. Like it or not we are all very likely to need it before we're done.