Shelby and Senate lay groundwork for Obamacare repeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate passed a budget reconciliation measure this week allowing for the eventual repeal of Obamacare, moving Republican politicians one step closer to fulfilling their years-long campaign promise.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is optimistic about a likely repeal soon, thanks to the recent legislation and the agenda of the incoming administration. “The American people have entrusted Republicans with a unified government and they demand, expect, and deserve results,” he said. “I am pleased that our first major act in the 115th Congress was to pave the way towards repealing and replacing this failed law with patient-centered health care reforms.”

In Alabama, insurance premiums on the Federal exchange and elsewhere have skyrocketed, hurting the bottom line of thousands of families. According the the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama had to increase rates by an average of 39 percent on individual plans offered through the ObamaCare marketplace. The tremendous increase affected 160,000 Alabamians and 5 percent of BCBS members.

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ObamaCare has essentially created an insurance monopoly in the state’s federal insurance exchanges. Because of the law’s stringent regulations limiting the profitability of insurance companies, BCBS is the only individual insurer in the market since Humana and UnitedHealth have decided to leave Alabama.

“The exiting of other insurers from the state is a clear indication of the difficulty in providing ACA health plans at the most affordable price without incurring significant financial losses,” Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama wrote in a statement.

But this rate hike was nothing new; it was just the latest occurrence in the new post-ObamaCare reality. In 2016, BCBS hiked rates by an average of 28 percent for individual plans to account for the tremendous losses created by the Federal Government. Because of the ObamaCare marketplace plans, the company lost more than $250 million from 2014 to 2016.

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“After more than six years since the enactment of the massive government takeover of health care, there is no doubt that Obamacare is broken beyond repair,” Sen. Shelby said. I have heard from thousands of Alabamians about the harmful impacts of Obamacare on their health care, their family, their job, and their wallet.”