An online tool created by the Foundation for Government Accountability is helping cut through the debate over whether the Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as Obamacare, raised insurance premiums.
Available online at http://uncoverobamacare.com/premium-calculator/, the tool allows visitors to enter their age range and state, and find out what the least expensive, most expensive, and average premium was in 2013 and compare that to premiums in 2014.
“We want the average citizen to understand how much insurance cost them before Obamacare when compared to the plans being sold now,” said Josh Archambault, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability.
Rates Higher After Obamacare
The calculator shows premiums rose significantly in 2014 over the previous year. “The Obamacare premium calculator shows the inflationary impact that Obamacare is having on premiums in most states and for most citizens in the U.S.,” Archambault said.
The calculator shows rates in every single state and every single age group were higher in 2014 than they were in 2013. For example, a 30-year old male in California would have paid $79 in 2013 for the least-expensive health insurance plan available to him, whereas in 2014 the least-expensive plan would cost him $184, an increase of more than 230 percent.
A 30-year old male in California comparing the most expensive plans available in 2013 and 2014, both of which cover a fairly generous set of benefits, would find a smaller but still significant increase in percentage terms, a rise from $443 in 2013 to $577 in 2014, for a 30 percent increase.
Sean Parnell ([email protected]) is managing editor of Health Care News.
Sean Parnell ([email protected]) is a research fellow for health policy at The Heartland Institute.
