The Republicans are attempting to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and replace it with something else. At the present that something else is "The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017," the Senate version of the bill. But what every American needs to understand is that if it were not for Obamacare there would not be any attempt at a federal health care law. The fact is, if the Republican Party had it their way, they would not replace it, and the United States would simply return to the healthcare system we had prior to 2010.
Nevertheless, Congressional Republicans, hoping that by repeating it often enough, American voters will be convinced that the Affordable Care Act has ‘failed. That it’s “collapsing.”
But the Republican claims are untrue.
“Timothy McBride of Washington University in St. Louis put together 7 relevant charts and graphs that show Republicans couldn't be more wrong.
Moreover, another study shows that “. . . Insurer profits are up this year in Obamacare's individual exchanges, according to a new report Monday - a sign that the market is stabilizing and that Republican claims of collapse have not come to pass.
“The analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation examined first-quarter earnings in 2017 and found insurance companies are paying a lower share of premiums out in medical claims than in any comparable period since the law went into effect. The current mix of enrollees do not appear to be less healthy than in the past, an important factor in whether companies can turn a profit.
"’These new data offer more evidence that the individual market has been stabilizing and insurers are regaining profitability,’ the report's authors wrote.”
By Benjy Sarlin
