Before Obamacare, Jerry reports his family of four paid $650 a month for health insurance. They had a $1,500 deductible and a $75 emergency room copay. He describes filling prescriptions as “generally cheap.”
But when Obamacare was implemented, Jerry’s policies kept being canceled—three times. Each time, he was told that the policy was no longer available. And each time, his family had to find new doctors.
Jerry’s family’s premiums have nearly doubled from $650 to $1,200. His deductible has increased more than six-fold from $1,500 to $10,000, and emergency room visits are subject to that deductible.
How our plan would help:
Jerry is among the 6.7 million people in the individual market who don’t get any help with health insurance costs and who face higher and higher premiums and deductibles. Average premiums for individual health insurance rose 105% in the first four years after Obamacare took effect. Obamacare forces people to pay more for policies that cover less. Networks are narrower, deductibles are higher, drug copayments can be prohibitive, and access to the best doctors and hospitals is restricted. Half of those in the exchange market have a “choice” of only one insurer.
Our plan gives flexibility to the states to create more options for people like Jerry to purchase more affordable coverage. States will have the resources to finance care for high-cost patients and help those with pre-existing medical conditions so they don’t drive up costs for everyone else. And competition will be revived so people will have more choices and can select a plan that meets their needs. In a properly functioning market, plans would want to renew Jerry’s policy and even provide a discount if he signed up for a multi-year agreement.