- Obamacare worsened the quality of individual market health insurance and caused millions of people to replace better coverage with worse coverage. Obamacare substantially raised premiums and deductibles and most plans exclude top hospitals and doctors.
- The rising costs from Obamacare led more small businesses to drop health insurance.
- The law’s coverage expansion now costs taxpayers more than $200 billion a year — almost all of which are subsidies to health insurers — without improving health outcomes.
Source: Brian Blase
Brian is a fine writer, but he is reaching a bit here.
1. Obamacare undoubtably raised premiums for any individual-market insureds who had an underwritten policy before the ACA.
However, Obamacare lowered costs for many thousands of insureds with incomes less than 200% of poverty and any health history.
So it’s a mixed bag.
2. I do not agree that Obamacare led small businesses to drop insurance.
My experience in selling to small business was they dropped health insurance due to:
a. nearly all the employees had coverage through a spouse;
b. the firm was in financial trouble, and had to cut back insurance no matter what it cost.