But the AMA journal article also previews how the president may emerge as a forceful voice of the left on top issues after he leaves office; many Democrats were reluctant to embrace a government-run insurance plan, or public option, fearing it could lead to excessive federal influence over health markets.
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“I am proud of the policy changes in the ACA and the progress that has been made toward a more affordable, high-quality, and accessible health care system”, Obama said.
It includes a justification for the health law, statistics on how its implementation has improved both insurance coverage and health care quality, as well as recommendations for further action.
But in a “special communication” article published Monday on the website of JAMA, the American Medical Association’s top journal, the president says a lack of competition among insurance plan offerings in some regions may warrant a new look.
It’s a shift that reflects how the party has tilted leftward during the Obama years.
The so-called “public option” didn’t make it into his signature bill during the health care debate of 2009 and 2010, yet Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton embraced it over the weekend. The number of uninsured individuals in the United States has declined from 49 million in 2010 to 29 million in 2015.
The priorities Obama set in his article have strong support within his party.
A public option, in theory, would be more efficient and thus be able to offer lower premiums to enrollees.
The White House, however, remains unimpressed with by the claim.
White House officials said that Obama’s goal in writing the article was to start a discussion and suggest a direction for elected officials and future policymakers, but that he would not be offering detailed new legislative proposals to carry out his ideas. Most enrollees live in counties with at least three policy issuers, which helps keep down costs, Obama said.
The median premium request filed by insurers for ACA plans for 2017 is 19.2 percent higher than 2016 rates, White said.
The public option is a Hail Mary pass for Obamacare – a last-ditch effort to salvage the program and cement the president’s legacy.
“Americans have had enough of the Obamacare experiment in government-run health care”.
“Now, based on experience with the ACA, I think Congress should revisit a public plan to compete alongside private insurers in areas of the country where competition is limited”, Obama wrote. First, Obama noted the importance of the Affordable Care Act as being the most transformative pieces of legislation for the healthcare industry since the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
“The name of the act is the Affordable Care Act”, he said.
It would disallow insurance companies to turn down buyers of coverage or charge them higher premiums because of their pre-existing conditions under a strict condition: as long as they maintain their coverage by always paying premiums on time or by keeping their jobs that provide employer-sponsored insurance with no break of employment. Max Baucus, who killed the provision in the Senate bill.
Obama accuses Republicans of “hyperpartisanship” without saying what he might have done differently.
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It also arrives in the middle of an election campaign in which the health law is a defining issue for the two parties’ candidates for president and Congress. Accordingly, while some will dispute the findings and extent of progress described by the president, ultimately the data are critical and speak extremely well of the early years of the ACA. Between 2013 to 2015, the states that expanded their Medicaid programs also saw major reductions in their uninsured rates. About 8 percent of Americans are expected to be uninsured in 2025, down from about 11 percent in 2014, CMS auditors said in the report.
