What's the one thing you hear all the time from Republicans about Obamacare, and why they want to get rid of it? It's some variation of this, from Trump himself, back in January: "You have deductibles that are so high that after people go broke paying their premiums, which are going through the roof, the health care can’t even be used by them because their deductibles are so high."
Here's a nifty interactive gizmo from The New York Times that demonstrates that's really not the case. At all. Here's the message:
Of the more than 90 percent of Americans who have health insurance, most get it from their job or the government. Premium growth has been low for those groups in the last few years.
The remainder buy their own insurance either through the Obamacare marketplaces or directly from an insurance company. Republicans who want to repeal the Affordable Care Act say this group has seen a rise in premiums.
But 85 percent of the people buying insurance through the marketplaces receive federal subsidies, which generally shield them from premium increases. This leaves just the remaining marketplace customers, and those who buy insurance directly, affected by the increases.
These two groups account for 3 percent of all Americans.
So, yeah, a relative very few people are actually affected by Obamacare plan premium increases, which isn't news. What is news is that the way Republicans are replacing subsidies with tax credits means that the shield those customers have in the form of subsidies is shrinking, substantially. So a lot more people are going to experience a lot bigger premium hikes in the future.
Oh, and deductibles? Yeah, they’re way too high. Is Trumpcare doing a damned thing about that? No.