YOUR GOVERNMENT
It was a striking concession. It also shows that the President still has no idea how much damage he’ s done to Americans’ healthcare. Let’ s go point by point.
1.“ too many Americans still strain to pay for their physician visits and prescriptions …” Drug costs have risen dramatically over the past few years. According to a report last fall from Emory University, the people insured through Obamacare are hit especially hard. Out-of-pocket expenses for medications in a typical Obamacare silver plan are twice as high as they are in the average employer-sponsored plan.
Obamacare Failures: Point by Point
SENATOR JOHN BARRASSO
Obamacare insurance also tends to have more restrictions on the doctors that patients can see. People may try to get an appointment with their family doctor, only to be told,“ Sorry, we don’ t take Obamacare.” They can get hit with a huge bill for a routine office visit that’ s now“ out-of-network.”
2.“ cover their deductibles …” In a recent poll, two-thirds of Americans said they would have trouble coming up with the money to cover a $ 1,000 emergency. The average silver plan in the Obamacare exchanges this year has a deductible of more than $ 3,000. Some Obamacare plans next year will have deductibles as high as $ 7,000.
Hillary Clinton is telling voters she wants“ to build on” Obamacare. But President Obama’ s signature healthcare law remains highly unpopular because many Americans believe it’ s not a good deal for them personally.
The President essentially laid out a case for his own law’ s failures in an article he wrote for the Journal of the American Medical Association.
He wrote:“ too many Americans still strain to pay for their physician visits and prescriptions, cover their deductibles, or pay their monthly insurance bills; struggle to navigate a complex, sometimes bewildering system; and remain uninsured.”
If you have to switch insurance in the middle of the year, you could find that you have already paid thousands of dollars toward your deductible, only to have to start over again with a new insurer. This is the situation facing 72,000 people in Illinois and Ohio whose taxpayer-supported health insurance co-ops collapsed over the past few months.
Similarly, you may have to find new doctors or hospitals where your new Obamacare insurance is accepted.
3.“ pay their monthly insurance bills …” Even President Obama hasn’ t been able to ignore the headlines about skyrocketing premiums. Insurers across the country expect to raise their prices an average of 23 percent next year.
14 | Quarter 4 M 2016