Monthly Archives: March 2016

Obamacare reality: It is working

At a time in the US when all of the Republicans presidential candidates are declaring Obamacare a failure which needs to be undone, it is worth noting the REALITY that it is succeeding in its primary purpose of covering more American with health insurance. It does not mandate insurance coverage, but the subsidies and tax penalties for not having insurance are motivating more people to get insurance. 20 million more people now have health insurance than did before. (Click on graphs for a clearer image.)

 20 Million Gained Health Insurance From Obamacare, President Says
The Huffington Post

Uninsured rate Gallop-HealthwaysEven though cost containment was not its primary goal, Obamacare is also reducing, not increasing, costs of health care.
Since many people don’t trust the government, here are some private sector slides.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, an actuary firm not known for being political, forecasts that health expenditure
cost growth in 2016 will continue to slow down.

http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/behind-the-numbers/assets/pwc-hri-medical-cost-trend-chart-pack-2016.pdf

Here are my two favorite slides from their chart pack. Note the changes since 2010.

pwc trends gdpand nhe

My view is that the above figure is misleading, since the decline in rates of growth did not start in 1961, but still the slow growth since 2010 is clearly evident.

 

spending growth rate PWC 2016

Obamacare is working. We just don’t have enough leaders and media telling us this.

 

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