Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Admits – Obamacare ‘No Longer Affordable’

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An architect of the federal healthcare law said last year that a “lack of transparency” and the “stupidity of the American voter” helped Congress approve ObamaCare.

He suggested that many lawmakers and voters didn’t know what was in the law or how its financing worked, and that this helped it win approval. 

– From the post: Video of the Day – Obamacare Architect Credits “Lack of Transparency” and “Stupidity of the American People” for Passage of Healthcare Law

Obamacare is now such an obvious failure and disaster, even some of its staunchest Democratic supporters can longer deny reality.

The Star Tribune reports:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s Democratic governor said Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act is “no longer affordable” for many, a stinging critique from a state leader who strongly embraced the law and proudly proclaimed health reform was working in Minnesota just a few years ago.

Gov. Mark Dayton made the comments while addressing questions about Minnesota’s fragile health insurance market, where individual plans are facing double-digit increases after all insurers threatened to exit the market entirely in 2017. He’s the only Democratic governor to publicly suggest the law isn’t working as intended.

“The reality is the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for increasing numbers of people,” Dayton said, calling on Congress to fix the law to address rising costs and market stability.

Few states have embraced the health care law more strongly than Minnesota under Dayton. Lawmakers created a state-run online market exchange for people who aren’t covered by employers or public programs to buy individual coverage. When those policies first went on sale in 2013, Dayton and state officials touted the lowest health insurance rates in the nation.

But after several years of steadily increasing premiums, top state regulators said this fall that Minnesota’s individual market is in “a state of emergency.” The state scrambled to stop all seven companies that sell insurance directly to consumers or through the state exchange, MNsure, from fleeing for 2017, but the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, is still exiting.

Health care insurance shoppers will see premium increases that range from 50 percent to 67 percent on their plans for next year.

Across the nation, insurers have sought double-digit premium increases while major companies — including Aetna and UnitedHealth — have pulled out of many state-based exchanges for 2017 after forecasting heavy financial losses. The Obama administration portrays the premium increases as a one-year market correction that can be absorbed or offset by larger financial help through tax credits.

Of course, the disastrous U.S. healthcare system hit very close to home for me recently, something I discussed in the post, Thanks Obama – My Healthcare Plan Was Just Canceled. In it, I noted:

As much as I didn’t like my healthcare plan, I was planning on keeping it. Until I received a letter telling me I couldn’t from United Healthcare. Indeed, they weren’t too subtle about the entire thing, making it perfectly clear what was about to happen.

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Not exactly the best way to start your week. As I proceeded to flip though the 10 page letter, I was directed to what United Healthcare deemed to be a comparable plan for me in 2017. Here’s how that plan compares to my current plan.

Premium payments: +30%
Per person deductible: +160%
Per person out of pocket maximum: +4.5%
Primary physician copay: +85%
Specialist copay: +115%

Some healthcare reform.

For related articles, see:

Video of the Day – Obamacare Architect Credits “Lack of Transparency” and “Stupidity of the American People” for Passage of Healthcare Law

Obamacare is Rapidly Becoming the Poster Child for American Inequality

An Update on the Obamacare Disaster

Illinois Obamacare Co-Op Goes Bust Leaving Tens of Thousands at Risk

Sales of Short-Term Health Plans Soar as Americans Flee Expensive Obamacare

The Health Insurance Scam – “Coverage” Doesn’t Mean Affordability or Access

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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1 thought on “Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Admits – Obamacare ‘No Longer Affordable’”

  1. Where do I begin? We have examples of working models all over Europe, but we were too STUPID to put them into effect, and too arrogantly and obsequiously beholden to, supportive of and butt-kissing a Capitalist culture that discouraged instituting these models. Yes, we are stupid — and, unfortunately, we continue to elect those who exemplify and channel this very stupidity.
    To my mind, all Obama did was to take a failing system and add color-levels to it to “prettify” it up and sell it back to us. ‘Just sayin’

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