The ACA a Non-Political View

Now that the ACA (aka Obamacare) is operational we can see those aspects of the law that seem to be working and unfortunately those that are not.

The cost of insurance (premiums) was supposed to significantly decrease and according to the White House should have put about $200 back in the household budgets nationwide through premium reductions. The immediate result however was quite the opposite. When the AKA rules were released regarding the type and breadth of coverage being mandated by law many families lost their insurance since the policies that they had were cancelled due to non-compliance with the new law. Once new policies were issued, families were now forced to pay for coverage that perhaps they did not want or need and thus with more coverage the premiums increased to a large extent. To mitigate the new high premium, families opted for very high deductibles which lowered the premiums, but increased the “out-of-pocket” expenses enormously.

Another anticipated outcome was that with the ACA, more low-income families would have access to coverage. This in fact is true given that premiums are subsidized by the government for these families. The other side of the coin is that the increase of covered families drastically outpaced additional medical professionals in the healthcare community causing delays in services up to six or eight weeks. With this kind of outcome these families were back in the emergency rooms getting healthcare services which in fact was the opposite outcome expected.

The shining star or our ACA of course is the abolition of the “pre-existing condition” denial of insurance coverage. This was universally accepted by a individuals of all political persuasions, and basically told insurance carriers “you are either in the risk business or not!”

As we progress into further execution of the law we have to examine if the expected outcomes of Obamacare actually come to fruition. All certainly agree that the healthcare system as it existed in the past needed to go. Will this become the best possibility for the solution? Time will tell indeed.