Why Does Obamacare Make Health Insurance So Expensive?
in Obamacare
For a succinct explanation of why Obamacare is making health insurance more expensive for millions of Americans, check out this short interview with Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini. Bertolini identifies three main factors: 1) Obamacare imposes a requirement that, on an actuarial basis, insurance cover at least 60% of health care costs. Currently, more than half of Americans who buy individual coverage are below 50%. 2) Obamacare imposes 4% to 5% additional cost in the form of new taxes and fees. Aetna alone will pass on $1 billion in Obamacare taxes and fees to its policyholders. 3) Obamacare mandates many coverages, whether customers want them or not, and requires insurers to provide subsidized coverage to those who are already sick.
In essence, Obamacare has made cheap health insurance illegal.
None of this is a surprise: anyone who was paying attention when Obamacare was enacted knew that the law would raise health care costs. The law’s supporters say that the cost of health insurance will be reduced for many people, but that is true only because the higher premiums charged by insurance companies for taxes and fees, unneeded and unwanted coverages, and so on, will be subsidized. Some taxpayers will pay for their own more expensive health insurance, and also pay a portion of the cost of someone else’s more expensive health insurance. The balance of the money needed to subsidize Obamacare’s deficits will be borrowed from Chinese banks and repaid with interest by your children.
For a succinct explanation of why Obamacare is making health insurance more expensive for millions of Americans, check out this short interview with Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini. Bertolini identifies three main factors: 1) Obamacare imposes a requirement that, on an actuarial basis, insurance cover at least 60% of health care costs. Currently, more than half of Americans who buy individual coverage are below 50%. 2) Obamacare imposes 4% to 5% additional cost in the form of new taxes and fees. Aetna alone will pass on $1 billion in Obamacare taxes and fees to its policyholders. 3) Obamacare mandates many coverages, whether customers want them or not, and requires insurers to provide subsidized coverage to those who are already sick.
In essence, Obamacare has made cheap health insurance illegal.
None of this is a surprise: anyone who was paying attention when Obamacare was enacted knew that the law would raise health care costs. The law’s supporters say that the cost of health insurance will be reduced for many people, but that is true only because the higher premiums charged by insurance companies for taxes and fees, unneeded and unwanted coverages, and so on, will be subsidized. Some taxpayers will pay for their own more expensive health insurance, and also pay a portion of the cost of someone else’s more expensive health insurance. The balance of the money needed to subsidize Obamacare’s deficits will be borrowed from Chinese banks and repaid with interest by your children.
Obamacare must be repealed.
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