Insurance companies and industry analysts are still skeptical about the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The CEO of Aetna recently released a statement explaining that the insurance provider "continues to have serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges."
Politicians, including U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), also have been fighting to repeal the ACA since its inception, and these insurance company’s concerns are validating their efforts.
“As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, (Shimkus) sits at the intersection of energy and health care policy,” Jordan Haverly, press secretary for the congressman, recently told Patient Daily. “From that vantage point, he has come to see some of the unfortunate parallels between the Obama administration’s past claims about the Affordable Care Act and the similar claims it now makes about the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.”
A report was released in February that explained how insurance companies lost money in 41 states in 2014.
“Shimkus says the reality is that the president’s upending of our health insurance system has hurt more Americans than it has helped,” Haverly said.
Though some analysts say the market could turn around once premiums rise and more young people sign up for insurance, Haverly explained that part of the problem is that people who signed up after the act was approved are more expensive to insure.
Haverly explained that Shimkus has voted more than 60 times to repeal some parts or all of Obamacare that distort the market, raise process and deprive citizens of choice.
“On a family level, millions of Americans have lost plans they liked and were promised they could keep while others have been forced to pay hundreds of dollars more just to keep seeing their doctor,” Shimkus recently said. “For employees and their employers, Obamacare’s costly mandates have led to cutbacks in hours, wages and hiring.”
Haverly explained that under Obamacare, the cost of “reform” was passed along in the form of bigger deductibles and higher copays to the majority of Americans who had insurance policies they liked and could afford.
“Government forcing our citizens to buy a product that they do not want is un-American and costly,” Shimkus said. “What I’ve noticed is that, in both cases, a majority of Americans end up paying more and getting less.”
Haverly argues that Shimkus is looking out for those who are suffering the most from high prices and fewer options.
“Under the health care law, the majority of Americans have found their coverage networks shrink, offering less of a choice among doctors and hospitals,” Haverly said. “Despite all the president’s rhetoric about middle-class economics, the reality is that the majority of middle-class families pay more and get less as a result of his policies. Republicans warned this would be the case under Obamacare.”
