Pipes: On Obamacare's 5th Birthday

Health care expert Sally Pipes marks the 5th birthday of Obamacare with a painful reality check of the changes the health care law has made.

Promise: lower premiums by up to $2,500 per year for typical family.

2014 insurance premiums are 24.4% higher than they would have been without Obamacare, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Promise:  protect vulnerable patient populations from increases in drug prices.

Drug costs are being shifted to patients. In 2015, more than 40% of all 'silver' exchange plans -- the most commonly purchased -- are charging patients 30% or more of the total cost of their specialty drugs. Only 27% of silver plans did so last year.Drug costs for these patients have skyrocketed as costs of drugs were shifted to patients.

Promise:  more choice, more competition, lower costs for millions of Americans.

The Government Accountability Office reports that insurers have left the market in droves. In 2013, 1,232 carriers offered insurance coverage in the individual market. By 2015, that number had shrunk to 310.

Promise:  Government spending on Obamacare will be only $900 billion over 10 years.

This month, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the law's 10-year cost will reach $1.2 trillion.

Promise:  Obamacare will cover 34 million uninsured Americans by 2021.

The Congressional Budget Office revised that estimate to 25 million obtaining coverage by 2025. Moreover 89% of Americans who have signed up for Obamacare in 2013 were already insured and simply switched insurance plans.

Promise:  Obamacare will let you keep your doctor and your hospital.

McKinsey & Co. noted that roughly two-thirds of the hospital networks available on the exchanges were either "narrow" or ultra-narrow," meaning Obamacare plans refused to partner with at least 30% of the area's hospitals. Other plans exclude more than 70%. More than 60% of doctors plan to retire earlier than anticipated -- by 2016 or sooner, according to Deloitte. Coverage is worthless if patients can't find a doctor or hospital who will see them.

 "Time and again," writes Pipes, "Obama has been proven wrong about what his health law would accomplish. Quality hasn't improved, and costs continue to grow out of control.  So far at least, that's Obamacare's legacy."

What's Next if Obamacare Goes Down?

NRO's Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews health care expert Sally C. Pipes on the Future of Health Care Reform in America, whether Obamacare stays or goes. Pipes, who will be a featured speaker at the Institute's Western Women's Summit this month in Santa Barbara CA, is the author of "The Pipes Plan: The Top Ten Ways to Dismantle Obamacare." 

Obamacare: How to Repeal and Replace!

Health care expert Sally Pipes has published a practical, nuts-and-bolts, step-by-step plan that can make the slogan Replace and Repeal! a reality. She penned a series of three op-eds as an overview:


Where to Start in Repealing Obamacare

End Obamacare's Taxes Before They End Lifesaving Medical Advances and

How Real Reform is Different from Obamacare.

Vermont's Healthcare Law: An Obamacare Case Study

"Vermont became the toast of liberals recently when its governor signed what has been billed as the nation's first single-payer health care law," writes Sally Pipes, a national health care expert. The state's law is a good Obamacare case study, since it "does little more than what's already required under Obamacare." But Vermont's government-run health care plan isn't living up to utopian promises. Rather it's "a program in which everything is free at the point of consumption but nothing much of value is available." Read how and why.