The Obamacare insurance offerings for next year catapulted President Obama’s healthcare law back into the political spotlight, after his administration released some discouraging figures Monday.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and other GOP candidates and members of Congress lambasted the Affordable Care Act at the news that premiums for its plans sold through state-based marketplaces will rise 22 percent in most places next year and consumers will have 36 percent fewer plan options.
Trump, speaking at a Tampa rally Monday night, said it’s “over” for the healthcare law.
“In case you haven’t heard today’s news, it’s just been announced Americans are going to experience yet another double-digit spike in your premiums for Obamacare, and it doesn’t work,” Trump said at a Tampa rally Monday night. “In some areas, they’re paying 60, 70 and 80 percent more.”
Trump added that his promise to repeal Obamacare is one of the “most important” reasons Americans should vote for him in November.
Other Republicans also seized the opportunity to blasted the healthcare law, which they’ve tried repeatedly to repeal. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said “it’s time for the White House to admit that this law isn’t working.”
“We’ve reached this point because Obamacare is built on the lie that Washington’s bureaucrats are smart enough to plan health care for millions of Americans,” Sasse said in a statement. “At every turn — whether it’s co-ops collapsing, premiums skyrocketing, or big insurers bailing — the American people have paid the price.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said the 2017 plan offerings “aren’t too surprising” and said the data “does little to dispel the notion we are seeing the law implode at the expense of middle-class families.”
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, called the healthcare law “a full-fledged trainwreck which has worsened our healthcare system” and urged voters to punish Democrats who support the law and support Republicans who want to replace it.
“These rate hikes will surely cause financial pain for millions of American families, many of whom are already suffering from the limited choices, fleeing healthcare providers, and budgetary hardships that are all symptoms of this law’s flawed design,” Priebus said. “What we are witnessing is progressive government in action and a glimpse of what Hillary Clinton is promising to deliver more of if she’s elected.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said the premium increases show that the healthcare law is “blowing up” like the Samsung 7, a phone that was recently recalled because of its tendency to catch fire.
