In today’s episode of dumbfoundery, several politicians in Tennessee are enraged that Obamacare premiums are slated to rise by as much as 62% next year. This month, Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Julie McPeak allowed insurance companies to adjust their requested rates upward, even further than originally proposed for those buying insurance on the Obamacare exchange.
The rate hikes are due to the fact that new enrollees in health insurance plans on the federal exchange are less healthy and have more medical claims than those who have long held health insurance plans.
Is anybody really shocked by this? The entire premise of Obamacare is to enroll more people in health insurance and then get somebody else to pay for it. The primary method for this is to raise insurance premiums on everyone else.
The same politicians who are grandstanding about these rate hikes continue to stand valiantly in support of the very Obamacare law that is forcing the hikes on consumers. Commissioner McPeak was stuck between a rock and a hard place with the rate hikes. Either let insurance companies cover their massive losses by raising rates, or risk them bailing on the exchange altogether. The result is more costly options; the alternative was no options at all.
The most important takeaway from Obamacare’s abject failure is in how we respond to the growing crisis. Do we impose more government control and move closer to a single payer system like the framers of Obamacare intended? Or do we embrace freedom and focus on expanding access to healthcare, rather than mere insurance?
Direct primary care, which passed overwhelmingly this past legislative session, is one example of the latter. As Tennesseans’ health insurance costs skyrocket, protecting their ability to enter into agreements directly with their physician for their ongoing healthcare services without using insurance is a great solution. We need to embrace more solutions like direct primary care rather than trying to solve all of our healthcare woes with insurance coverage.
We won’t have a choice but to act as Obamacare crumbles before our eyes. How we act will determine the future of healthcare in America. I hope we take the right p