ByAvik Roy,
Senior Contributor.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Senator Barack Obama promised that his health reform plan would “lower your premiums by up to $2,500 per family per year.” But since his signature law, the Affordable Care Act, went into effect, premiums have nearly tripled, and deductibles have more than doubled. The cost of coverage for a family of four has increased by more than $10,000. Here are some charts that illustrate the changes.
Obamacare was signed into law in 2010, but its overhaul of the individual—or non-group—health insurance market didn’t go into effect until 2014. (This is the market for people who buy coverage on their own, instead of getting it from their employers or the government.) Back then, in these very pages, we comprehensively analyzed what it would have cost to buy an Obamacare-like plan before the law went into effect, and found that Obamacare increased premiums by 49 percent in year one.
The premium increases were far higher for people who were younger and healthier than the average, as you can see in this interactive map, but overall, the benchmark “silver” health insurance plan cost $346 a month in 2014, on average, versus $232 a month in 2013. For 2026, that same plan costs $625 a month: nearly triple what it did in 2013, or an increase of $4,716 per year. (If you’re reading this article on your phone, rotate it sideways to better view the charts.) Those eligible for taxpayer-funded subsidies under Obamacare were able to defray some of those costs, but not everyone is eligible.
