Data gleaned from healthcare.gov and healthcare exchanges around the country show that buying individual health insurance is generally more expensive for young people now than it was before ObamaCare, including in Alabama where premiums have risen by an average of 31 percent for 27-year-olds.
The map below, which was created by The Heritage Foundation, shows the percentage increase in health insurance premiums for 27-year-olds in states around the country.
It’s hard to believe it, but a 31 percent increase might actually qualify as a “good deal” under ObamaCare. Many states around the country have experienced 70 percent, 80 percent, even 100 percent hikes. Alabama’s neighbor to the east, Georgia, has seen their premiums jump by an astounding 168 percent for 27-year-olds under the president’s healthcare law.
“ObamaCare says you can stay on your parents’ health insurance until you turn 26,” Amy Payne of the Heritage Foundation explained. “This chart looks at what happens after that — if you don’t have employer-sponsored insurance and you have to get insured through ObamaCare. If you’re trying to save for a car or house — or just paying rent to have your own place — seeing your premiums double is quite a blow.”
And it’s not only young people trying to work their way up the economic ladder who are feeling the pinch. Seniors, many of whom are on a fixed income, are being hit by ObamaCare’s $716 billion cut to Medicare.
“Despite the Obama administration’s recent walking back of Medicare Advantage cuts for this year, ObamaCare’s planned cuts to Medicare are moving forward,” said Payne. “This chart shows which parts of Medicare are affected.”
“Instead of cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare program, ObamaCare targets the amounts Medicare service providers are paid,” Payne continued. “These cuts have ripple effects on seniors. Doctors, nursing homes, and other providers who can’t afford to be part of Medicare any more will cut back or stop participating — and that means fewer options and less access to care for seniors.”
That realization makes it especially notable that AARP, the largest seniors advocacy organization in the country, has been one of the most vocal supporters of ObamaCare from the beginning to help get the law passed.
Emails released by a congressional committee show that the group worked closely with the Obama Administration from the beginning.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s Kim Strassel, “The emails overall show an AARP leadership… that from the start worked to pass ObamaCare, before crucial details pertaining to seniors had been addressed. [AARP leadership] was in constant contact with Mr. Obama’s top aides, in particular Nancy-Ann DeParle and Jim Messina.”
Multiple media outlets reported in 2009 that 60,000 AARP members abandoned the group in a single month due to the group’s support of the Affordable Care Act.
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That has led to the rise of AARP alternatives, including the 60 Plus Association, which established an Alabama chapter last year.
“AARP might be good at providing discounts on flowers and hotels, but it does a lousy job of representing America’s conservative seniors,” 60 Plus said in a release announcing the launch of their Alabama chapter. “Fortunately, seniors have another alternative in political discussions in Alabama, one that won’t abandon its conservative values or the real causes of seniors.”
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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