PPACA "Crazy" According to Bill Clinton

When PPACA passed data showed employers covering 176 million Americans.  According to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell employer coverage number is now 150 million.  That's a drop of 26 million people.

“There are 150 million people in America using employer sponsored insurance versus the 11 million in the Market Place. Last year, those 150 million only had 4 percent growth in their premiums and that is up against the 8 percent growth that occurred ten years before the Affordable Health Care Act.”

According to H.H.S. data, premiums for the 150 million Americans with employer-sponsored insurance have grown at some of the slowest rates on record.

Many say that premiums have gone up since the Act was made into law health care prices have risen at the lowest rate in 50 years.

“I think when people are talking about premiums, it’s important for them to have the facts,” Burwell said. 

Here are my facts, Mrs. Burwell.  My workplace premiums have gone up "slowly" because coverage has declined markedly, as deductibles and co-pays soared.  The best plan I could get from my employer for 2016 had no physician coverage outside meeting the monstrous deductible.  After that I'd get 80% coverage and be responsible for the other 20%.  Visits to my two specialists are totally on my dime this year.  I visit both for preventive purposes, screening for cancers which if caught early are cheaper to eradicate. 

Ex-President Bill Clinton called PPACA "crazy" while stumping for his wife Hillary's White House run.

"So you've got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world," Clinton said.

It's not a bizarre outcome.  It was the plan to shift responsibility away from employers and onto individuals and a tapped out Uncle Sam.   America may have more people with healthcare coverage, but it likely has a record number of people who can't afford their out-sized deductibles and copays. 

Almost two in three Americans don't have enough savings to pay for a $500 car repair or a $1,000 emergency room bill, according to a new Bankrate.com report.

HHS Secretary Burwell is excited because she sees us "on a path to put the consumer at the center of their care."  And that consumer will foot much of the bill as they attempt to navigate the complex and bizarre PPACA landscape, populated by predatory providers looking to maximize their incentive pay. 

Burwell talks honey but pushes snake oil.

Update 4-3-22:   The average health insurance premium more than tripled for a family plan since PPACA passed in 2010.  Cost curve bent but in the wrong direction.  Concave went convex.  

Update 7-16-22:  Burwell is now President of American University and just hired former Carlyle Group Managing Director David Marchick as Dean of AU's business school.