Obamacare: The Unaffordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act is an ironic name for a law that has only made health insurance and health care unaffordable for millions of Americans. Since its passage, Obamacare has caused premiums to skyrocket, deductibles to increase more than workers' wages, and the costs of prescription drugs to become more of a burden.

This law must be repealed so individuals and families are not further harmed by the high costs of Obamacare that too often lead to those who have health coverage not having actual real access to health care.

THE FACTS:

* Americans with employer health care coverage - approximately 155 million people - are paying higher premiums and higher deductibles under Obamacare. President Obama promised premiums would decline $2,500 per family; instead, average family premiums in the employer-sponsored market have soared to more than $18,000.

* Deductibles are also increasing. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, deductibles for individual plans in the employer-sponsored market are up an average of 89 percent, from $646 in 2010 to $1,221 in 2016. This is faster than the rise in individual premiums (27 percent), double the rise in workers' wages (13 percent), and more than cumulative inflation over the period (10 percent).

* Individuals and families are facing higher prescription drug costs under Obamacare. The average individual with a plan in the exchange marketplace has to pay 46 percent of his or her total drug costs, compared to 20 percent for someone with employer-sponsored health care, according to Health Affairs.

* Many families have found health care under Obamacare to be so unappealing that instead of purchasing coverage they have chosen to pay the individual mandate penalty. In 2015, roughly 8 million Americans paid the penalty and more than 12 million claimed an exemption from the penalty. That's at least 20 million people who have decided Obamacare is not worth the trouble and/or the price.

Read this original document at: http://budget.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=394445