A new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) analysis found that median Obamacare premiums on the exchanges are expected to rise 18% in 2026. Some increases could reach as high as 30%.
Twila Brase is a registered nurse as well as the president and co-founder of Citizens' Council for Health Freedom.
"The Affordable Care Act was never intended to make insurance affordable. As premiums rise 18%, 20%, or 30% in 2026, who will be able to afford this wealth redistribution scheme?" asks Brase.
President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law on March 23, 2010. Exchange plans launched in October of 2013.
Since then, Brase has wasted little time warning that the Affordable Care Act would "drive consolidation, reduce competition, and raise costs" for Americans.
"The ACA should be called the Unaffordable Care Act," adds Brase.
When asked what she sees as reasons for premium increases, Brase said the ACA "caused mass consolidation of the health insurance industry into relatively few health plans," reducing competitive pricing. The ACA also placed no limit on how high premiums can go.
"The ACA Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), which limits health plan spending on administration, may create incentives to increase costs, as found by the 2019 study ‘Regulating Markups in US Health Insurance’," says Brase. "Rationalizing these increases as the end of expanded COVID subsidies is just an excuse to raise premiums."
Members of Congress, most of them Republican, have tried for years to repeal and replace Obamacare. Those efforts were unsuccessful, due in part to Republicans arguing over replacement plans when Brase said they should have repealed it and then passed a replacement.
Meanwhile, Democrats sold the ACA with promises that Brase said never came true. Examples? That premiums would go down, that Americans could keep their doctor, and that Americans could keep their plan.
"Instead, Americans have fewer choices and higher costs for worse coverage. Individuals and employers are paying first-dollar coverage prices for high-deductible policies that allow care to be denied,” says Brase. “To cover the higher costs, we expect many employers to withhold more dollars from every paycheck, leaving workers with less take-home pay."
