By Bill Rusteberg
Under the heavy hand of punishing government diktats, the Affordable Care Act has not delivered on its promise of affordable health care for all. It has, however, delivered promised affordability for a small subset of the American population. The consequences have been devasting to the American middle class.
The ACA was passed so Americans could find out what’s in it. Promises were made that sounded good. “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” There have been at least a dozen significant promises made and broken.
In 2013, just before ACA coverage provisions went into effect, the U.S. population was approximately 316.7 million. In 2014 the Census Bureau reported about 33 million uninsured Americans, or about 10.4% of the population. One of the primary aims of the ACA was to reduce the number of Americans who were uninsured, targeting the needs of 10% of the population.
Did it work? It’s up to the reader to decide.
The uninsured rate in 2025 is estimated to be 8% which translates to approximately 27.1 million Americans without health insurance coverage. If these numbers are correct, the uninsured rate in this country has reduced by a dismal 2.4% since the passage of the ACA nine years ago now going on ten years. Did the ACA accomplish its goal?
Meanwhile health insurance costs have increased for everyone. The ACA MLR rule turbocharges profits for insurance companies removing all incentives to reduce costs. Rather, the MLR rule has gifted carriers record profits, fulfilling their fiduciary duties to shareholders beyond their wildest dreams of yesteryear. Stringent punishing government mandates enforced by badge heavy bureaucrats has made health insurance a de facto government utility, taking away individual and corporate freedoms through thousands of regulations crafted by unelected bureaucrats in faraway places.
No one can argue the ACA was another step in the continuing march towards socialism in this country. The effects on health care are obvious. Higher costs, fewer benefits, less choice and a growing dependency of more of the same.
Is It Time For Civil Disobedience? Is it time for plan sponsors to simply disregard the ACA and offer benefits based on utilitarianism, the philosophy of “The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number.”
Or is it time for a single payer system? We’re about halfway there already. More than 168,000,000 people — roughly half of all Americans are enrolled in at least one of the major government-supported health insurance programs. I’m one of them.
I’m on Medicare and I like it. Good coverage, better than most group plans. Hospitals and doctors far and wide are happy to take my government health plan. Never a balance bill. Office visits cost less than $20 (my 20% share). On the downside the “premium” cost is enormous. I spend 47 years paying for coverage I didn’t have during my 65-year waiting period to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. My waiting period started when Harry Truman was President and ended eleven presidents later with President Obama.
The good news is plan sponsors don’t have to wait that long or pay that much. There’s no 65-year prepaid entrance fee like mine and millions of others. Plan sponsors from across the Fruited Plains can implement a Medicare based health plan today. So why wait? It’s Here!
