I'd say that's the most convincing counterargument I've seen from you. I'd like to think I'm raising yer game.
Here's some more evidence to keep you laughing:
Employer Health Insurance Premiums at a 10-Year High, with Slower Growth After 2010
Because the Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2010, included provisions that applied to employer plans beginning that year, we looked at trends in premiums before and after 2010. All nongrandfathered plans (i.e., health plans that were not in existence when the ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010) are required to allow young adults to remain on or enroll in a parent’s plan to age 26 and include recommended preventive services without cost-sharing. Both these provisions were expected to modestly increase premiums. In addition, health insurers were required to spend at least 80 percent or 85 percent of premiums on medical costs for small and large employer health plans, or pay rebates to employers and covered employees. This provision has been found to have a mild decreasing effect on premiums.
The analysis shows that the rate of growth in premiums after the passage of health reform slowed, compared with the average annual growth rate in the seven years prior to the law. From 2003 to 2010, premiums for employee-only plans grew at an average annual rate of 5.1 percent. In the three years since the ACA was enacted (2010–2013), growth in premiums slowed to 4.1 percent per year.
The reduced rate of premium growth was more pronounced in large employer plans than in small employer plans, primarily because premiums in large employer plans grew at a faster rate in 2003–2010 than did those in small employer plans. Premium growth after the passage of the Affordable Care Act was about the same for both large and small employers.
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Annual Employee Premium Contributions Have Grown, But Rate of Growth Has Slowed in Recent Years
In an effort to reduce their costs of providing health insurance, employers over the past decade have increased the amount that workers contribute to their premiums and to their health care, through higher deductibles and copayments. As a result, employees are paying more for plans that provide less financial protection.
In 2013, U.S. employees contributed 21 percent of the total premium for employee-only coverage. This is unchanged from 2010, but an increase from 17 percent in 2003. However, because premiums have grown, the actual amount that workers contribute toward premiums has climbed from $606 in 2003 to $1,021 in 2010 to $1,170 in 2013, or an increase of 93 percent over the decade.
And, because income growth has been slow throughout the decade, employees are paying more for their share of premiums. In 2013 and 2010, average premium contributions for single coverage in employer plans were 4 percent of median income, compared with 2 percent in 2003.
Deductibles More Than Doubled from 2003 to 2013, But Rate of Growth Moderated in Recent Years
Although workers are paying more for their health insurance, their premiums are buying less financial protection, partly because more plans include deductibles and the size of those deductibles has spiked dramatically. In 2013, 81 percent of workers were enrolled in a health plan with a deductible, up from 78 percent in 2010 and just over half (52%) in 2003.
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National Trends in the Cost of Employer Health
Insurance Coverage, 2003–2013
Now it's true that the economy went into a tailspin as Dubya left office, so it can be argued that that has kept prices down. But I don't think you can claim that the ACA has driven costs up. Increases in 2014 weren't bad. We'll see how things go.
