This Is Affordable Health Care?

By Steve Barlotta, CPA

Back in 2008, one could hardly argue with then presidential candidate Barrack Obama that our country’s health care costs were too high and our current system was not sustainable. It was an undeniable fact that the massive growth in Medicare and Medicaid spending were major culprits for our current deficits. On the campaign trail, the President promised he would lower health insurance premiums for families by $2,500 in his first term. We also remember him back in 2010 touting his Obamacare legislation as the best plan to start actually reducing health care costs. Unfortunately, the facts don’t back up the President’s claims.

First, let’s look at the cost of health insurance premiums for families in the President’s first term. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average family health insurance premium during this period actually went up by $2,730, not down by $2,500. Another report from the Health Care Cost Institute showed that overall health care spending rose 4.6 percent in 2011, which significantly outpaced the growth for both wages and inflation during this period.

Most alarming is the severe impact that rising health care costs have had on seniors since Obamacare was enacted. In a recent analysis, healthcare consulting firm Avalere Health reported that seven of the current top ten Medicare prescription drug plans will have double digits increases in premiums for 2013. Seniors using the popular Humana Walmart Preferred Rx Plan will see their premiums rise by a whopping 23 percent. This is hard to fathom seeing that the President has said on many occasions that one of the main purposes for enacting health care legislation was to make these costs more affordable for our country’s elderly.

My biggest beef with the President’s health care legislation from day one has been that it does not give the American people the freedom to spend their health care dollars where they choose. But, it’s becoming apparent that the main flaw of Obamacare is that it forces some Americans to pay a disproportionate share of other Americans’ health care. This will continue to be seen through higher premiums, new taxes, and companies passing on their additional Obamacare related costs to the consumer. I believe the increased costs we’re seeing in the early stages of this health care legislation is just the tip of the iceberg.

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