It’s really not. I hear your argument a lot and I am especially interested in it as I used to work in the health insurance field both before and after the aca. I hear your anecdotal evidence but what I saw was rates increased at a slower speed and people unable to get insurance before get covered. Health insurance has always been expensive, and if you are in the individual market and don’t qualify for a government subsidy then yes there is major sticker shock. But group rates have been much more stable. If you’re on a group plan I would check with your employer to see if they have cut their contribution or increased your deductible before blaming the aca.
We employ over 2000 people. Rates have gone up every year for the last 5, and we've increased our contribution and split the increase with the employee. If rates went up 7% (like 18-19) then we took 4 percent, they got 3 percent of the increase. Call it anecdotal if you wish, but this has been the norm for the last 5 years.
Actually -- as documented in many articles -- the Health Insurance premiums and rates increased at over 20% annually in North Carolina since the passage of ACA. A rate far exceeding any earlier period in our state's history. Coverage has also been cut. The 100% plans are gone; most people have been forced into 80% or 70% plans. The rate increases have impacted both individual and group plans. Both corporations and employees have been seen the rates increase. This is not due to employers changing their percentage of contributions. Every year I get a letter from my employer (jsut like many others) stating your rates are going up and stating this is directly due to ACA.
Oh come on. You think Harry didn't know that when HE changed the rule for lower court appointments? Hell, if those were so important as to necessitate a change in the rules, then how can you argue the SCOTUS appointments are any less important? File it under stupid liberal tricks.
I hate to disagree but the numbers I’m seeing show group plans in nc increased between 13% and 17% between 2013 and 2017, that’s an annual rate of about 3.5%, which believe it or not is actually really, really good as far as health insurance goes. Are you sure your employer has not cut their contribution and benefits package? “Citing data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, Anderson said premiums for people covered by their employer or through Medicare or Medicaid have risen at a much slower rate. Employer-sponsored insurance premiums, for example, jumped about 14 to 17 percent between 2013 and 2017.” https://www.politifact.com/north-ca...g-misleads-obamacare-premium-increase-during/
And you’re seeing 7% increases in your group rates for the same package? That’s really not the worst. I’m not going opine on your split, that’s up to you.
I have previously posted large amounts of data about the huge premium increases for both individual and group plans in North Carolina since the implementation of ACA. These articles showed all the information and statistics in full. Let me say the selective quoting used in Poltifact source to take down Holidng demonstrates how the source is completely unreliable and biased. The purported points put forward by this Poltifact reference conflicts with information released from the NC insurers, state government and federal government. I can state explicitly that group plans for most RTP area professionals have jumped over 20% per year in price since the passage of ACA. This is a problem that impacts all of my neighbors and you will have a difficult time convincing any of them (of any political perspective) that their rates have not increased significantly since ACA for less coverage.
Look, like I said I can remember the years before Obamacare when I did hold large groups that saw over a 20% increase in a single year. Those jumps would send me scrambling because subscribers would freak out. I have never seen multiple years in a row of 20+ percentage increases. I’ve seen multi year 10+ increases though but again not since aca. Also heath insurance increases have to go through the state for approval where I live, I’m not sure if that the case where you live or if you have an insurer of last resort in NC. By and large you know what is best for yourself and what’s happening in your life, and if you’re in a group then you really have no choice but to go with what your employer provides. If I was managing your health benefits I would be looking for new carriers.
North Carolina only has one insurer now that covers the entire state (Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC) -- this is also directly attributable to ACA. ACA was a giveaway to the Insurers and Healthcare industry. In fact they wrote most of the ACA bill included the part about Insurance companies never taking a loss. Of course, this part blew up on the Insurers when Congress eliminated "Risk Corridors" recognizing that automatically providing Insurers a profit was outright ridiculous. As I stated many times before, if the U.S. was serious about universal coverage then they need to implement a public plan like many other western nations. Obama had his chance and blew it - instead providing ACA as a giveaway to insurance & healthcare industry driven by lobbying money.