Remember, it’s called the “Affordable Care Act.” And our president promised that it would bend the health care cost curve down. The name of the law is beginning to look positively Orwellian, where things mean their exact opposite:
Few aspects of the Affordable Care Act are more critical to its success than affordability, but in recent weeks experts have predicted costs for some health plans could soar next year.
Now health law supporters are pushing back, noting close ties between the actuaries making the forecasts and an insurance industry that has been complaining about taxes and other factors it says will lead to rate shock for consumers.
“Most actuaries in this country — what percentage are employed by insurance companies?” Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, asked an actuary last week at a hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The committee was discussing a study published last month by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) predicting that, thanks to sicker patients joining the coverage pool, medical claims per member will rise 32 percent in the individual plans expected to dominate the ACA exchanges next year. In some states costs will rise as much as 80 percent, the report said.
When this happens, remember to call your Democratic member of Congress and thank him or her. Here are the incumbent North Carolina Democrats who voted for this monstrosity of a law:
Sen. Kay Hagan
Rep. David Price, 4th District
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, 1st District
Rep. Mel Watt, 12th District
