Trump’s Cherry-Picked ACA Rates

Republican front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed, for months, that premiums under the Affordable Care Act are “going up 35, 45, 55 percent.” Trump cherry-picks insurers’ rate increases on the ACA marketplaces. The average premium increase was 8 percent for HealthCare.gov consumers between 2015 and 2016.

Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance Offer and Coverage Rates, 1999-2014

In 2014, 66% of nonelderly workers received an offer of coverage from their employer; less than the 71% offer rate in 1999 (Figure 1). ESI offer rates vary by workers’ full-time status. Employees who worked part time (less than 30 hours a week at all their jobs) were less likely to be offered coverage from their employer than were employees who worked full time (30 or more hours a week) (21% vs. 72%).

ObamaCare Insurance Premiums

ObamaCare Insurance premiums are a sore subject with many readers; however, ObamaCare insurance premium increases are a response to the protections contained within the law.

Overwhelming Evidence That Obamacare Caused Premiums To Increase Substantially

Two scholars at the renowned Brookings Institution, Loren Adler and Paul Ginsburg, have published an analysis finding that “average premiums in the individual market actually dropped significantly upon implementation of the ACA.This contrasts with a plethora of evidence, including a rigorous 2014 Brookings study, showing that the ACA significantly increased premiums.

ObamaCare Employer Mandate

The ObamaCare Employer Mandate / Employer Penalty,  originally set to begin in 2014, was delayed until 2015 / 2016. ObamaCare’s “employer mandate” is a requirement that all businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTE) provide health insurance to at least 95% of their full-time employees and dependents up to age 26, or pay a fee. Below we clarify how each aspect of the mandate affects employees and employers.

Bill Clinton calls Obamacare “crazy system”

No couple agrees on everything, but Bill Clinton may have gone off-script when he insulted Obamacare after Hillary spent much of her campaign praising it. Bill criticized the spike in premium prices and decrease of coverage, calling it a “crazy system.”