Repeal of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare)

[Ivysaur]

The program was put in place on the premise that millions would pay into the system. Over the years, premiums have skyrocketed over 300%. People see that their previous health care plan was more affordable, and leave. As a result, those still utilizing the pool must now pay more due to the people leaving. The cycle repeats until there is no one left to run the damn thing.

What I hate most about Obamacare is that it's done far more harm than it has done good. The premiums are extremely high and Obamacare was designed to help the poorer/lower middle class. Turns out, poor people can't afford it and quit the program. Obama also levied a new fun tax system that if you don't have care, the government gets to gouge you for $700 dollars for no particular reason.

For "no particular reason"? No, my friend, they fine you to incentivize you to stay in the market, since you are going to pay anyway, or, if you leave, to make up for your departure from the market.

According to the Congressional Budget Office,

In CBO and JCT's assessment, however, the nongroup market would probably be stable in most areas under (the) current law.

Under current law, most subsidized enrollees purchasing health insurance coverage in the nongroup market are largely insulated from increases in premiums because their out-of-pocket payments for premiums are based on a percentage of their income; the government pays the difference. The subsidies to purchase coverage combined with the penalties paid by uninsured people stemming from the individual mandate are anticipated to cause sufficient demand for insurance by people with low health care expenditures for the market to be stable.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/52486

And this is why the ACA is not collapsing any time soon and why the "death spiral" Trump and conservatives have been so giddy about for so long is not happening.

 

[Esper]

It actually isn't that far from the truth, however. Obamacare is an unsustainable program. Here's why:

The program was put in place on the premise that millions would pay into the system. Over the years, premiums have skyrocketed over 300%. People see that their previous health care plan was more affordable, and leave. As a result, those still utilizing the pool must now pay more due to the people leaving. The cycle repeats until there is no one left to run the damn thing.

What I hate most about Obamacare is that it's done far more harm than it has done good. The premiums are extremely high and Obamacare was designed to help the poorer/lower middle class. Turns out, poor people can't afford it and quit the program. Obama also levied a new fun tax system that if you don't have care, the government gets to gouge you for $700 dollars for no particular reason.

I give it at best 2 years from a business standpoint. There is no longer enough people in the pool to draw on a healthy sustainable system and will collapse in on itself in due time. Turns out that inventing new phantom taxes isn't such a hot thing to do.

What about those that say that premiums would have gone even higher without the ACA, that they were already on the rise and the ACA stunted their rise?

I'm not saying I particularly like this aspect of the ACA (I'm for single payer) but if government doesn't like it and wants to replace it they can't just sit back and let it happen, let people lose insurance. They should step in and give people who entered into the ACA on good faith the money to cover the increase of cost until a new system can be put in to replace the ACA, or at least those parts dealing with the money.