Trump declares Obamacare ‘over’ after report of premium increases
Republican touts own plan’s savings; Clinton urging an array of fixes.
WASHINGTON — With premiums going up sharply next year under President Barack Obama’s health care law, a new “Obamacare” controversy is heating up as the presidential election nears.
According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market.
And about 1 in 5 consumers will have plans only from a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers scaled back their roles.
Signup season starts Tuesday, about a week before national elections.
“It’s over for Obamacare,” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said at a campaign rally Monday evening in Tampa. Trump said his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, “wants to double down and make it more expensive and it’s not gonna work. ... Our country can’t afford it, you can’t afford it.” He promised his own plan would deliver “great health care at a fraction of the cost.”
Republicans, including Trump, are united in calling for complete repeal, but they have not spelled out how they would address the problems of the uninsured.
Clinton has proposed an array of fixes, including sweetening the law’s subsidies and allowing more people to qualify for financial assistance.
Obama says the underlying structure of the law is sound, A look at what’s in store for consumers after insurer pullouts and premium increases when open enrollment starts Tuesday for coverage on the Affordable Care Act exchange.
and current problems are only “growing pains.” The president has called for a government-sponsored “public option” insurance plan to compete with private companies.
The new numbers aren’t too surprising, said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who chairs a committee that oversees the law. It “does little to dispel the notion we are seeing the law implode at the expense of middle-class families.”
Administration officials are stressing that subsidies provided under the law, which are designed to rise alongside premiums, will insulate most customers from sticker shock. They add that consumers who are willing to switch to cheaper plans will still be able to find bargains.
The vast majority of the more than 10 million customers who purchase through HealthCare. gov and its state-run counterparts receive generous financial assistance.
“Enrollment is concentrated among very low-income individuals who receive significant government subsidies to reduce premiums and cost-sharing,” said Caroline Pearson of the consulting firm Avalere Health
But an estimated 5 million to 7 million people are either not eli- gible for the income-based assistance, or they buy individual policies outside of the health law’s markets, where the subsidies are not available. The administration is urging the latter group to check out the government website.
Dwindling choice is another issue. The total number of HealthCare.gov insurers will drop from 232 this year to 167 in 2017, a loss of 28 percent.
Switching insurers may not be simple for patients with chronic conditions. While many carriers are offering a choice of plan designs, most use a single prescription formulary and physician network across all their products, explained Pearson. “So, enrollees may need to change doctors or drugs when they switch insurers,” she said.