Obamacare Shortfalls to Meet the Obama’s 2009 Promises

In the month of September 2009, President Barack Obama issued a highly touted report on the state of health insurance costs in the United States, titled The Burden of Health Insurance Premium Increases on American Families. The report, which was released by the Executive Office of the President (EOP), painted a grim picture of health care prices.

“Health insurance premiums sustain to rise for American families,” wrote the authors of the EOP report. “Premiums are increasing in all states and far in excess of wage growth or inflation. If we do nothing, the soaring rise of health insurance premiums will mean that millions of families and businesses will be not able to afford these increases and will lose their coverage over the coming years. For families that handle to keep their health insurance, health prices will consume an increasingly major portion of their budgets.”

The EOP report called for substantial reforms Obama stated that would lower prices and increase access to quality health care services, involving a ban on pre-existing condition restrictions.

More than 6 years have passed since the EOP report was issued and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. A latest analysis by Freedom Partners indicates the promises and projections made by EOP in the year 2009 have not come to fruition. In fact, health insurance premiums sustain to grow at rates similar to those experienced before ACA and wage growth has really slowed. Between the years 2004 and 2009, average wages increased by 12.2%; since the year 2009, wages have risen by less than 9%.

In addition to growing premiums and falling wage growth, deductibles have also grown in recent years. In accordance to data made present by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and observed by Freedom Partners, only 5 states and Washington, DC, saw average Obamacare exchange deductibles decrease from the year 2015 to 2016. 21 states had average Obamacare deductibles rise by $300 or more, involving 8 states with deductible increases topping $500.