jj3044 wrote:Another tenant of insurance in general (and the healthcare law) is that it be affordable.
Just because you put "Affordable" in the name doesn't make it so. The actual text and implementation of the law makes that determination. When the law mandates unnecessary coverage and places new taxes on medical providers (and top insurance plans), it's impossible for prices to go down, much less mean it's designed to be affordable. If you wanted it to be affordable, you would pass a law to make health insurance a personal market where people shop for the actual coverage they want, not the coverage that the federal government decides fits for all people.
jj3044 wrote:I saw a stat the other day (can't remember where though), that trend is expected to only rise about 2% this year, far less than the average 7-9% per year through the last decade. And I still don't see how the law destroyed the free market, since there are many insurers competing for your business on the exchanges. In my state, there was even a new player in the individual market, and Scotty posted an article a few pages back saying that hospital systems are going to start creating "mini HMO's" and essentially be the provider and insurer, further increasing competition.
What does this mean? Will it eventually enroll more people in health insurance? We will have to find out. Will it eventually cost less than the alternative? We will never know. Will it reduce the rate of increase we have seen over the last decade? Perhaps, the jury is still out.
7-9% per year over the last decade, yet BBS's chart showed most states experienced a 50% or more increase just since Obamacare passed? 2% increases in the future will never happen based on that. And if the law fosters competition, why are many areas of the country only covered by 1 servicer on the exchange, with even more plans cutting off specialty providers like cancer treatment centers? Obamacare has already led to cuts in coverage in actual coverage in order to pay for Obamacare mandated coverage like $9 birth control pills along with taxes on insurance plans.