Health Insurance Premiums Have Skyrocketed Under Obama

Remember how Barack Obama promised to lower health insurance premiums and assured everyone that they would not lose their preferred doctors? Well, some of those who bought into his hype are suddenly realizing they were merely pipe dreams after their premiums have jumped, in some cases, up 15% or more. This happened to someone I know, although I'm sure it won't deter her from voting for Obama again. Supposedly her company is also being assessed an additional tax in January 2013, this after they had to drop the group policy because they couldn't afford the premiums. And you can rest assured this is happening to many small companies nationwide. My own COBRA premiums increased a few quarters ago, but I never believed his lies, so it wasn't a surprise.

Investors Business Daily claims that insurance premiums have steadily increased under Obama's leadership:

During his first run for president, Barack Obama made one very specific promise to voters: He would cut health insurance premiums for families by $2,500, and do so in his first term.

But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama's vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey.

Premiums for employer-provided family coverage rose $3,065 — 24% — from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370.

What's more, premiums climbed faster in Obama's four years than they did in the previous four under President Bush, the survey data show.

Obama made lowering insurance costs a major issue during his 2008 campaign:

In a debate with Sen. John McCain, for example, Obama said "the only thing we're going to try to do is lower costs so that those cost savings are passed onto you. And we estimate we can cut the average family's premium by about $2,500 per year."

At a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio, in February 2008, Obama promised that "We are going to work with you to lower your premiums by $2,500. We will not wait 20 years from now to do it, or 10 years from now to do it. We will do it by the end of my first term as president."

To back that up, Obama pointed to a memo drafted by Harvard professors (and unpaid campaign advisers), which claimed that investing in health care IT, cutting administrative bloat, and improving management of chronic diseases would cut health costs by $140 billion a year. That would translate into $2,500 in premium savings for families.

But those projections were wildly optimistic, overestimating potential savings from IT, making big assumptions about disease management, and ignoring the fact that past government interventions have always increased health care administrative costs.

And ObamaCare has only made the problem worse.

In 2011, premiums spiked 9.5%, and many in the industry blame ObamaCare for at least part of it. Premiums climbed another 4.5% in 2012, Kaiser found.

And it's not going to get any better.