That was the first one and we had a lot more scurry our way in the meantime.
Except those numbers are now at a record low (and have been for quite some time.) It might have something to do with the fact that America is not quite the land of opportunity, or that the numbers coincide with a dwindling middle class income bracket and devaluation of the dollar in relation to foreign currencies...
...The ACA does have some proper benefits for all Americans, but it was the health insurance programs that really screwed the pooch.
What the govt. should have done was expand Medicade—an already existing & functional program—to cover the coverless, enforce the new care mandates (which are really friggin good for healthy people, like a once a year physical with a GP, or the removal of caps on care), and spend some time on insurance reform—i.e. like regulating yearly premium increases—rather than jump into commercial insurance.
Expanding Medicade could have easily insured those without insurance or who needed coverage under an existing system, while better insure reform and oversight would have helped regulated an inflated insurance system while encouraging competition (when the govt. introduced private insurance policies, they really took competition off of the table by setting the monthly premium bar.)
Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the U.S. govt.'s first rodeo with insurance. The Fed govt. has had its own insurance programs for federal employees, soldiers, etc. for years and it functions very well, but this expanded model for the rest of the American public runs into problems if the number of
HEALTHY people don't buy in. If that happens the system won't be able to pay for itself.
For example, say I decide to change my current health insurance to a silver plan from the ACA (the defacto minimum for someone in my income bracket.) After calculating the rough costs I'd be paying an almost identical premium per year—after tax breaks/incentives—for the same coverage. Where is my incentive to switch over to a new provider? That's one of the main drawbacks to the rough roll out, and why it was/is so important to the ACA's personal insurance plans.
Fiscally, this is where the ACA dropped the ball big time. They're hedging on the idea that healthy, happy Americans will switch their private insurance over to an ACA program before the govt./state cost split turns payment of the entire ACA insurance program into a black hole. Per state, the cost of supporting the ACA isn't much (at it's height it'll be 10 cents on a dollar), but it still comes out to tens of millions of dollars of wasted tax revenue if the system can't pay for itself.
That said, while the ACA's rollout has had some "issues," that's not exactly a big deal. The same thing happened with Medicade way-back-when, and it turned out just fine. Like any legislation with deliverables, it'll be a rolling series of "upgrades" to work out the kinks.
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As for the increases seen in monthly premiums...they're due to the expanded healthy mandates. Before the ACA you could pick and choose coverage options from private insurance companies, selecting the options that fit your budget. This lowered premiums for healthy people, which was great until all hell—or life—broke loose.
Sure you could save money on your monthly premiums before the ACA, but heaven forbid you suffered a random heartache, stroke, mental health change or major accident. Then all of a sudden your cheap insurance plan was worthless, made even worse by the fact that before the ACA you would quickly burn through your care insurance cap if care exceeded the paltry threshold set by the low cost plan—assuming the care needed was even covered.
As sad as that scenario sounds, it's extremely common. With the lower monthly premiums, out of pocket expenses for anything major—even the diagnosis—is often exorbitant, and to this day Medical Costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US.
And, while bankruptcy crappy for the individual—who may or may not still require long term care and rehabilitation—medical providers won't see payment either. Which means they'll inevitably have to jack up costs to make good on the default.
Meaning, while people are bitching and moaning about the increase in monthly premiums, what they fail to remember is that health insurance isn't just for "sick people," but rather it's the personal golden insurance parachute we all need, but rather think we don't need...until something catastrophic happens.
In the long run, the ACA's mandate changes will actual alleviate some of the fiscal burden Hospitals feel when they have to eat unpaid medical service costs. While some people like to complain about illegal immigrants and poor people not paying their medical bills, the truth is that a large percentage of medical bill deadbeats are average Americans who elected to select a cheap monthly premium and eat fast food every day.
The ACA is FAR from perfect—I really do HATE the insurance plan aspect—but the Act does successfully address some major problems that have plagued healthcare for decades.
