Forward Grubers!

      

      As we celebrate (ahem) the 6th anniversary of Obamacare to the celebratory cheers of the Grubers who inflicted this abomination (Obamination?) on the American people we have to take a look at all the good that Obamacare has done:

·        Twelve of the 23 Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (co-ops) in the U.S., which were intended to spur competition and lower prices, folded in 2015, costing American taxpayers more than $1.23 billion.

•         Risk corridors, which enable the government to compensate insurers that underestimated costs and undercharged their subscribers, paid out much less than the insurers expected because the funds dried up. What’s more, the program is due to expire after this year.

•         As a result, insurance premiums and deductibles have gone up dramatically, while the number of doctors patients can see has gone down.

•         The losses incurred by the major insurers in the past year have been staggering, and the likes of UnitedHealth, Aetna and others have signaled that participating in health insurance exchanges may no longer be sustainable.

•         The number of young, comparatively healthy people who were expected to sign up and balance out the insurers’ payments to older, sicker people fell drastically short of expectations, which in turn compounded the problem of rising costs. Penalties finally are kicking in for people who don’t buy plans, but young adults may be willing to pay the penalty, which is considerably lower than the cost of a policy, and gamble that they will remain healthy. And if they make that choice, it remains to be seen how successful the government will be in its collection efforts.

•         It’s getting increasingly harder to “keep your doctor.” In order to keep costs down, insurance companies have drastically narrowed their networks to include a slate of physicians they consider “more efficient.” And access to doctors has become even more challenging in states that have expanded Medicaid, since many physicians are opting out of the program due to declining reimbursements.

      As the DNC says - let's not take a step backward and repeal it. Forward Grubers!