Can we finally agree that Obamacare is working?

[wyldwolf]

At the end of a war, some people will remain holed up in the trees, thinking they can still turn the tide of a lost cause. Increasingly, that's the best description of the anti-Obamacare dead-enders, including Congressional Republicans, who continue to depict the Affordable Care Act as a failure despite facts like these:

--Nearly 60% of enrollees in ACA-compliant exchange health plans this year were previously uninsured--most of them for two years or more.

--Obamacare cut costs for buyers eligible for subsidies by an average 76% compared to non-subsidized premiums. More than 80% of buyers are eligible for government subsidies, and for them the average premium is $82 a month. (Source: Dept. of Health and Human Services.)

--Most people can save money by choosing plans offering narrower provider networks, and there's "no meaningful" difference in health outcomes between plans with narrow hospital networks and those offering broader networks. (Source: McKinsey & Co.)

--Projected rate increases for 2015 are coming in well below expectations. Anthem Blue Cross rates will rise by less than 10% next year, about in line with health plan rate increases in the individual market in the pre-ACA era. (Source: Anthem Blue Cross.)

Here's the Republican approach to these trends. On Thursday, Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, issued a report attacking the Administration for its botched rollout of Healthcare.gov. That happened eight months ago, and in the end didn't seem to affect overall enrollments. Is that's all they got?

It's proper to note that the statistics cited above demolish some of the most cherished claims of the anti-Obamacare right. Their estimates of the percentage of enrollees who were previously uninsured dipped as low as 27%; obviously their calculations were deeply flawed. All the emerging statistics indicate that the Affordable Care Act has materially reduced the number of Americans without insurance, which after all was its goal.

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http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-obamacare-is-working-20140620-column.html