Affordable Care Act does provide benefits
The Republican members of congress are falling all over themselves in the rush to repeal the Affordable Care Act that was instituted in 2010. They promise that the 20 million previously-uninsured Americans who have health coverage through this act will have an equivalent health program available to them. To date there is no replacement program. This even though the Republican party has had six years to develop one.
Repeal of the ACA has been a rallying cry for years as the Republicans have sought to gain control of Congress and the presidency. Very little attention has been paid to the benefits that the ACA has provided:
1. 20 million Americans have health insurance who were previously uninsured including children age 21 to 25 still living with their parents and people with prior health conditions.
2. The medical care inflation rate is down from an average of 8.5 percent per year prior to ACA to 2.5 percent per year now.
3. Per capita health care expenditures are down from an average of 10 percent per year from 1990 to 2010 to 3.4 percent per year now.
4. Annual uncompensated health care costs have been reduced by $7.4 billion with $5 billion of that due to the Medicaid expansion that accompanied the ACA.
5. The average rate of increase for family health insurance premiums nationwide has decreased to 4 percent per year since the implementation of the ACA. This is substantially less than the average 8 percent per year premium increases prior to the ACA.
Insurance companies are alleging losses incurred as a result of the health insurance exchanges and raising premiums as a result. At the same time company information indicates they appear to be doing very well. The 2015 compensation for CEOs of six of the top health insurance companies averages $15 million per year – well up from previous years. The companies report profits up from 2014 to 2015. Aetna reported achieving “record annual operating revenue and operating earnings in 2015”.
Repeal of the ACA without an equivalent system immediately available to replace it will result in draconian impacts to the 20 million recent enrollees – and maybe to many more Americans. It is, in fact, a matter of life and death. It would appear to me that a rational, caring, governing official would seek to correct and improve the ACA rather than repeal it. Some ideas worth consideration include: 1. Adjust the boundaries of the health insurance exchanges to enable larger risk pools (regional pools rather than state pools). 2. Audit the insurance companies to verify appropriate allocation of revenues and costs. 3. Achieve cost savings by enabling purchase of prescription drugs from Canada or Mexico, 3. Authorize Medicaid and Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs as is currently allowed for the Veterans Administration. 4. Limit profits by health providers and health insurance companies. I personally cannot see how we can permit profit-making at the expense of our citizens’ health.
It’s time we eliminate ideology from our efforts to provide our citizens adequate, affordable, health care.
Charles Davis III
Columbia Falls