President Barack Obama said predictions that Obamacare would increase health care costs, haven't occurred, even amid numerous reports that health care premiums are skyrocketing as the law creeps closer to full implementation.
US President Barack Obama speaks on economy in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington on September 16, 2013 to mark the five-year anniversary of the financial crisis. The White House marked the fifth anniversary of the financial crisis with a new bid to claim credit for 'bold' emergency economic rescue measures it said worked better than anyone expected. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
“There were lot of the horror stories, how this would shoot rates way up, how there were going to be death panels, and all that stuff. None of that's happened,” Obama said Monday, when giving a speech marking the fifth anniversary of financial collapse in 2008.
In an aggressive tone, Obama used the speech to take a swipe at tea party members of Congress pushing to defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and even took a swipe at his vanquished 2012 opponent Republican Mitt Romney.
“I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos if they can't get 100 percent of what they want,” Obama said of the tea party members of Congress. “That's never happened before, but that's what's happening right now.”
The health care exchanges are set to become open on Oct. 1 and the individual mandate takes effect in January 2014. However, the administration postponed the employer mandate by one year, and also exempted members of Congress and most congressional staff from rules of the law.
In the reference to Romney, Obama said of the health care, “The Affordable Care Act has been the law for three and a half years now. It passed both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court said it was constitutional, it was an issue in last year's election and the candidate that called for repeal lost.”
He later addressed heal care costs again.
“In two weeks, the Affordable Care Act is going to help a lot more people,” Obama said. “It has helped to keep down the rising level of health care costs to their lowest level in 10 years.”
A National Journal analysis on Aug. 29 reported that, “For the vast majority of Americans, premium prices will be higher in the individual exchange than what they're currently paying for employer-sponsored benefits.”
The office of Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance projected that health care costs in the state would increase by 124.85 percent under the law.
Rates in Ohio will increase by 88 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Insurance in June.
Other reports have surfaced showing that health care costs were going up by more than 100 percent in other states under the coming exchanges. Rates would go up by by 143 percent in Nebraska, according to the Lincoln Journal Star;
New Mexico will see a 130 percent increase in health care costs under the law, Fox News reported. Fox News also reported that Oklahoma rates would increase by 100 percent.
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