Obama Promised to Cut Health Premiums by $2500-- Premiums have Risen by $3000 Instead

Another broken promise... whether due to incompetence or just a lie to begin with is debatable, I suppose. It doesn't really make any difference to us though.

From the Investors.com article by John Merline (chart from the same article):

"During his first run for president, Barack Obama made one very specific promise to voters: He would cut health insurance premiums for families by $2,500, and do so in his first term.

"But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama's vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey.

"Premiums for employer-provided family coverage rose $3,065 — 24% — from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370.

"What's more, premiums climbed faster in Obama's four years than they did in the previous four under President Bush, the survey data show.

"There's no question about what Obama was promising the country, since he repeated it constantly during his 2008 campaign.

"In a debate with Sen. John McCain, for example, Obama said 'the only thing we're going to try to do is lower costs so that those cost savings are passed onto you. And we estimate we can cut the average family's premium by about $2,500 per year.'

"At a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio, in February 2008, Obama promised that 'We are going to work with you to lower your premiums by $2,500. We will not wait 20 years from now to do it, or 10 years from now to do it. We will do it by the end of my first term as president.'"

Taking Obama at his word? Heh.

Merline continues:

"And ObamaCare will continue to fuel health premium inflation.

"First, the law piles on new coverage mandates. It requires insurance companies to provide 100% coverage for various types of preventive care, bans lifetime coverage limits, extends parents' coverage to offspring up to 26 years old, and requires plans to meet certain 'medical loss ratios.' Coming up are rules on 'essential standard benefits,' limits on deductibles, bans on annual spending caps, and much more.

"The experience with state mandates show that they only tend to grow over time, and get more expensive. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance found more than 2,200 state benefit mandates, which add from 10% to 50% to the cost of coverage."

What's this? You mean federal rules on essential standard benefits won't keep the price of insurance down? That's a real shocker.

But as the cost of living increases and the median household income decreases, I'm sure people will be just fine with the increases of health insurance and the drop in the quality of health care. Sacrifices have to be made. And we're all just bumps in the road anyway...