Obamacare’s rising costs out of reach for many


President Obama says that most Americans can find a health insurance option for $75 or less per month. Independent analyses for 2016 are painting a much more difficult picture for the average consumer. The average “Silver” plan premium (that most people have) costs about $300 a month.

That’s not the biggest problem, according to analysts. For many, their health insurance has dramatically changed under Obamacare. Deductibles and out of pocket expenses are higher, so many of their medical expenses are no longer covered. Some consumers who say they had good, affordable plans prior to the Affordable Care Act say they can no longer afford the new plans, which are substandard in terms of what they cover.

We’ll dig into the trends and numbers Sunday on Full Measure. Also, we’ll report on the “Porker of the Year” –the federal official or politician deemed to be guilty of the most egregious taxpayer waste, as revealed by the Citizens Against Government Waste watchdog group. And Scott Thuman reports from Iowa on the quirky caucuses.

Last Sunday, we reported on huge salaries for executives at some nonprofits –that seem less than charitable. Watch the story here. See our past segments and programs at FullMeasure.news and our YouTube channel.

Watch Full Measure Sundays on a Sinclair station or livestream at 9:30a EST at FullMeasure.news
Watch Full Measure Sundays on a Sinclair station or livestream at 9:30a EST at FullMeasure.news

 


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6 thoughts on “Obamacare’s rising costs out of reach for many”

  1. Thank you for addressing this issue. Thanks to the passage of ACA, I can no longer afford to take my kids to the doctor. We have BC/BS through my husbands employer and pay roughly $850 a month for a family of 6. The problem we have is with the co-pays and the deductibles. Ihad an appointment for one of my kids to see a G.I. Specialist, thankfully the admin called me back with the co-pay amount, which was $250 just to see the doctor. This did not include follow up visits, testing, anything at all – just to walk through the front door. Who can afford this???? We can’t!

  2. I am a retired soldier who was promised “totla medical coverage” until my death if I stayed in the military and after 20 years retired and I did this and now I pay more than $75 per month because TRICARE, my retired military government health care coverege program, turns into “DON’TCARE” the day I turn 65 years old on October 18th 2016. I lose TRICARE as my first payer and I have to have MEDICARE Part B deducted from my SSI Checks I worked 35 years for and now I get punished $1,200 a year just becasue I turn 65 when we older folks need that pittance to pay for the medications we require becasue of the dangers and poisoned grass we had to walk around in in Southeast Asian wars and aging in general. Why did my recruiter and government lie to me and then take my “youthful” years I can never get back? I would never have given this nation “my youth” if I had know all of it was lies to trick me into staying in…HP and MANTECH offered me three times what the Army paid me but I stayed in so that me family and I were medically covered and such reason and it was all a lie! Just wanted you to know Sharyl Attkisson…jump on this issue for tens of thousand s of the rest of us…won’t you?

  3. My husband and I are paying $16,000 a year for our family of 3 for what amounts to catastrophic insurance – the deductibles are incredibly high and basically insurance doesn’t have to cover a dime until we spend an additional $13,000. Obama promised we could keep our doctors, ours is a standard general practitioner and we thought we paid an extra $1000 with a Blue Cross Preferred Plan to keep him in our network but upon going to a doctor’s appointment this week were informed that Blue Cross rejected him from the list practitioners we can choose from for a plan – he is the best doctor we ever had, he was part of a major hospital in our area that participates in Blue Cross – maybe he was too good for the insurance company that only approves doctors that don’t do anything for their patients. So we basically have to go out of network for every single provider we use. We are paying $16000/year health care tax that does us no good on top of all our other expenses. If something truly bad happens to us, we are in deep trouble.

  4. i was so very pleased to see Full Measure this morning. I have known by assisting others in obtaining health insurance they can afford and actually covers their health care needs and events that may occur. The facts presented on Full Measure this morning regarding Obamacare are absolutely correct ( only I did not have the statistics). I believe that the premium rates, deductibles and out of pocket expenses for health insurance ( a direct result, of Obamacareare ) has creating an environment that is preventing the people who were able to pay for health care that actually covered care, will no longer be possible.

  5. I am receiving subsidized insurance coverage in the state of Washington. I can afford the amount I have to pay. However, I can not afford to use the coverage, the total out of pocket is over $6,000, I don’t that kind of money.

    I have insurance but, I can’t afford to use it. What good is having insurance?

  6. First of all, Blue Cross is a lousy insurance. Also you have to shop around each year to get the best price. Also to when this was setup, it was for people that did not have insurance , like students, and homeless, and single parents that didn’t have coverage. It was not for people who had coverage through their work, but some how these rich companies thought that they would get in on the act so they could get out of paying big payments for their people and pass the bucks on to the employees. Therefore the rich again get out of paying their share. If we don’t stop the rich from paying their part, we all are going to suffer. Who do you think make them rich in the first place, we do. We do the work while they and their shareholders sit back and collect the money. They don’t care about you or me other than to get what they want out of us. So don’t let them foul you. Any time they can pass the buck they will. It just puts the strain back on the ones that couldn’t pay for insurance in the first place. Our politicians needs to put the insurance companies in check instead of taking checks from them. Until this is addressed and fixed no one will ever, ever have good reasonable insurance. That brings us back to the rich now doesn’t it. Not Obamacare because he tried to help the people that didn’t have no coverage. So don’t blame him, but it’s so easy isn’t it.

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