Insurance rates for 2015, the second year since the implementation of the president’s healthcare law, are projected to increase more than 8 percent according to a report released Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In Virginia, the average monthly premium rate will be $351, a whopping 11.3 percent increase from last year. Nationwide, Americans will be paying an average $385 monthly premium, and in some states, the premiums are set to increase 50 percent.
American families have already been subject to substantial rate increases triggered by the new mandates the law imposes. Last year, one family in Franklin County saw its premium double from $600 to $1,200. Another Fifth District family in Danville saw its deductible go from $500 to $1,750. At a time when Americans are paying more everywhere from the grocery store to the gas pump, they should not be forced to pay even more for their health insurance because of the president’s flawed law.
These staggering rate increases are just another facet of the president’s broken healthcare law that negatively impact American families. We have already seen cancelled policies, loss of access to current physicians and providers, an online marketplace system that is vulnerable to data breach, reduced working hours, and lost jobs. The cost of developing the federal online marketplace cost over $840 million in taxpayer funds because of poor planning and management. This squandering of taxpayer resources is simply unacceptable, and American taxpayers are paying an enormous price in multiple ways because of the flaws in this harmful law.
As I travel throughout our district, I consistently hear about the law’s devastating effects on our families, like the ones in Franklin County and Danville, our workforce, and our struggling economy. President Obama sold his signature healthcare law to the American people on the basis of false promises. He said he would lower premiums, but they are higher and will continue to rise. He told us we could keep our current health plans and keep seeing the doctors we know and trust, but that too proved incorrect. The American people are frustrated by the realities of life under the ACA as indicated in a survey released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that 53 percent of the American public had a unfavorable view of the Affordable Healthcare Act, the highest level of opposition recorded since the law’s passage in 2010.
I share in the frustration and concerns of Fifth District Virginians with the president’s health care law. Virginians and Americans deserve healthcare alternatives that provide quality and affordable care without unnecessary mandates that drive up costs and reduce choice. That is why House Republicans are focusing on solutions that are patient-centered and market-based, putting the power in the hands of individuals and families, not the federal government, to make health care decisions on behalf of themselves and their families. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to achieve meaningful healthcare reform that works for the American people and our economy.
If you need any additional information, please visit my website at hurt.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-4711, Charlottesville office: (434) 973-9631, Danville office: (434) 791-2596, or Farmville office: (434) 395-0120
Robert Hurt represents the Fifth District in Congress.
Share
Contributors
