It’s no secret that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) had a rough start. But as the website runs more smoothly and more and more Americans sign up for health care, something else is increasingly clear: in many ways the Affordable Care Act is starting to work.
With all of the partisan rancor that surrounds the ACA, numbers in the discussion tend to get lost – or at least distorted. But rather than focus on partisan rhetoric, we’d all benefit from a more in-depth look at the facts. Take, for example, the proposed 2015 rate increases for Anthem and Maine Community Health Options, the two insurance providers in Maine that sell plans under the ACA. While opponents of the health care law might trumpet the proposed increases as proof that the law is increasing costs, the numbers actually tell a different story.
It may be surprising, but the proposed premium increases for 2015 actually demonstrate one way that the ACA is working. The increases –– an average of three percent for Anthem plans and one-tenth of one percent for Maine Community Health Options plans — are a fraction of what they were in 2009 and 2010 before the ACA was implemented, when premiums in the individual market were increasing by upwards of 10 percent.
Though the proposed premium requests for 2015 are not final, it’s clear that the amount by which Anthem and Maine Community Health Options premiums will increase in 2015 will be drastically lower than before ACA implementation. And given that the 2014 premium increases in Maine were scaled back somewhat during the review process, the final 2015 numbers could actually be even lower than three percent and one-tenth of one percent respectively. It seems to me that, at least in this case of premium increases, things are moving in the right direction.
These aren’t the only numbers that suggest positive developments resulting from the ACA. In Maine, enrollment numbers have far exceeded the target set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in September of 2013. By my calculations, the 44,258 people that have signed up in Maine is 192 percent of the 23,000 target established by CMS.
So while commentators clog up the airwaves with predictions and prognostications about the merits and future of the law, over 44,000 Mainers have quietly signed up for health care under the new law. This impressive figure is due, in large part, to the development of a great outreach system by groups including Western Maine Community Action and the Maine Primary Care Association.
At its core, the Affordable Care Act is based on an idea that is simple in theory but difficult in practice: everyone should have access to quality, affordable health care. As with any piece of legislation so vast in scope and daring in goals, the ACA certainly has its flaws. But rather than scrap the entire thing, we need to fix what’s not working.
That is why I’ve joined with a group of my colleagues to address the ACA’s shortcomings without dismantling the entire law. In doing so, we can build on the positive, data-driven trends that are already starting to emerge from the distracting fray of misinformation and political rhetoric.
