3 ms·

No it didn't, it reduced choice and drove up insurance costs by mandating that all private insurance cover everything + kitchen sink. My single brother's cheap

No it didn't, it reduced choice and drove up insurance costs by mandating that all private insurance cover everything + kitchen sink. My single brother's cheap catastrophic plan was OUTLAWED to force him onto the ACA exchange. The only thing ACA has done on prices is pass rising costs to taxpayers (more than 80% of ACA participates are subsidized) and the exchanges are in a death spiral because anyone who can escape them is doing so. Another thing-- the data on prices are a flat out LIE, the government is also making massive payments to the insurance companies directly -- their prices don't reflect their actual costs.

tptacek 9y ago
I'm sorry you feel that way, but that's simply not what happened. I cofounded a company that provided insurance to ~40 full-time employees (and provided insurance before the ACA was passed), and the costs you're seeing today are in line with where costs were outside the ACA and prior to the ACA. No matter what you think about prices, though, the most important thing the ACA did was create a nationwide requirement for guaranteed-issue insurance. However expensive you think insurance is, it's more expensive to be flatly and irrevocably restricted from buying your own insurance at all, which was the status quo ante of the ACA.
- mobilefriendly 9y ago
  It isn't what I think about prices, it is the facts, ACA exchanges up 34% YoY. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/25/most-popular-obamacare-plans-cost-average-of-34-percent-more-for-2018.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/25/most-popular-obamacare-plans...
  - unclebucknasty 9y ago
    >ACA exchanges up 34% YoY Stating "YoY" gives the false impression that this is the average increase over some number of years. However, this was simply the projection for 2018 and the article provides the reason: "The price increases are fuelled by market uncertainty and the elimination of key federal payments to insurers."
  - spost 9y ago
    Nobody upthread of you is arguing that health insurance prices did not go up after the implementation of the ACA. The argument is that the rate of increase has decreased. I don't know if this is true, and don't have data to argue one way or another, but you and the other people in this thread are arguing about different numbers.
  - AFNobody 9y ago
    > The price increases are fueled by market uncertainty and the elimination of key federal payments to insurers. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/decision-to-kill-obamacare-payments-to-cost-insurers-1-billion.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/decision-to-kill-obamacare-p... That price increase was engineered by the GOP by cutting the payments from the budget followed by the Trump Administration's "finding" that they had no authority to spend the money. I genuinely hope your posts are just virtue signaling created by a desire to appear as one of the faithful.
DoreenMichele 9y ago
A little data that agrees with your impression: https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2016/07/28/overwhelming-evidence-that-obamacare-caused-premiums-to-increase-substantially/#3d27cd0b15be https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2016/07/28/overwh...
- tptacek 9y ago
  That article, aided and abetted by the terrible writing in the Brookings article it's criticizing, is comparing apples (the rate of increase) and oranges (the actual increase). There's no controversy that health insurance rates are increasing; they've been increasing dramatically since the turn of the century.
  - DoreenMichele 9y ago
    And I actually worked in insurance. The Fortune 500 company I worked for paid for me to go to school 8 hours a day for 3 months. I got a certificate from a technical college and additional training. Obamacare is a terrible solution. But don't let industry expertise stop you from your usual antics of feeling like no one is allowed to disagree with you and you need to win every argument, even if it means harassing anyone commenting, never mind that they weren't replying to you.
    - jacobolus 9y ago
      Please don’t adopt this kind of hostile style. It wrecks the whole conversation.
      - DoreenMichele 9y ago
        I have been here 8.5 years. I appear to be the only woman to ever have made the leaderboard (under a different handle). I have had exactly one conversation with Thomas where I did not feel completely crapped all over while he routinely positions himself like he is some sort of advocate for women's inclusion. The discussion was wrecked for me the minute he decided to comment on something I have expertise in where I don't agree with him. It is never a positive experience for me to engage him, he can't be avoided and there is no remedy at all from my end for the situation.

tptacek 9y ago

I'm sorry you feel that way, but that's simply not what happened. I cofounded a company that provided insurance to ~40 full-time employees (and provided insurance before the ACA was passed), and the costs you're seeing today are in line with where costs were outside the ACA and prior to the ACA. No matter what you think about prices, though, the most important thing the ACA did was create a nationwide requirement for guaranteed-issue insurance. However expensive you think insurance is, it's more expensive to be flatly and irrevocably restricted from buying your own insurance at all, which was the status quo ante of the ACA.

mobilefriendly 9y ago
It isn't what I think about prices, it is the facts, ACA exchanges up 34% YoY. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/25/most-popular-obamacare-plans-cost-average-of-34-percent-more-for-2018.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/25/most-popular-obamacare-plans...
- unclebucknasty 9y ago
  >ACA exchanges up 34% YoY Stating "YoY" gives the false impression that this is the average increase over some number of years. However, this was simply the projection for 2018 and the article provides the reason: "The price increases are fuelled by market uncertainty and the elimination of key federal payments to insurers."
- spost 9y ago
  Nobody upthread of you is arguing that health insurance prices did not go up after the implementation of the ACA. The argument is that the rate of increase has decreased. I don't know if this is true, and don't have data to argue one way or another, but you and the other people in this thread are arguing about different numbers.
- AFNobody 9y ago
  > The price increases are fueled by market uncertainty and the elimination of key federal payments to insurers. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/decision-to-kill-obamacare-payments-to-cost-insurers-1-billion.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/decision-to-kill-obamacare-p... That price increase was engineered by the GOP by cutting the payments from the budget followed by the Trump Administration's "finding" that they had no authority to spend the money. I genuinely hope your posts are just virtue signaling created by a desire to appear as one of the faithful.

DoreenMichele 9y ago

A little data that agrees with your impression: https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2016/07/28/overwhelming-evidence-that-obamacare-caused-premiums-to-increase-substantially/#3d27cd0b15be https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2016/07/28/overwh...

tptacek 9y ago
That article, aided and abetted by the terrible writing in the Brookings article it's criticizing, is comparing apples (the rate of increase) and oranges (the actual increase). There's no controversy that health insurance rates are increasing; they've been increasing dramatically since the turn of the century.
- DoreenMichele 9y ago
  And I actually worked in insurance. The Fortune 500 company I worked for paid for me to go to school 8 hours a day for 3 months. I got a certificate from a technical college and additional training. Obamacare is a terrible solution. But don't let industry expertise stop you from your usual antics of feeling like no one is allowed to disagree with you and you need to win every argument, even if it means harassing anyone commenting, never mind that they weren't replying to you.
  - jacobolus 9y ago
    Please don’t adopt this kind of hostile style. It wrecks the whole conversation.
    - DoreenMichele 9y ago
      I have been here 8.5 years. I appear to be the only woman to ever have made the leaderboard (under a different handle). I have had exactly one conversation with Thomas where I did not feel completely crapped all over while he routinely positions himself like he is some sort of advocate for women's inclusion. The discussion was wrecked for me the minute he decided to comment on something I have expertise in where I don't agree with him. It is never a positive experience for me to engage him, he can't be avoided and there is no remedy at all from my end for the situation.