Another thing that folks tend to forget is that Obamacare massively subsidizes insurance premiums – to the tune of $42.6 billion next year (with no changes). Not only that, but because Obamacare has forced a huge rise in deductibles, most people will pay more out of pocket for premiums and deductibles combined than they did before the law was passed.
The Republican plan does have something else in common with Obamacare: neither is a free-market approach. Both are top-down, government-directed plans that largely ignore or reject the free market. The Obama administration successfully seduced America’s insurance companies into supporting Obamcare by promising them “40 million new customers.” We know how that turned out.
The CBO says the Republican “repeal & replace” plan would reduce costs by $335 billion. We don’t have much reason to trust that number, but at least it is going in the right direction.There is plenty wrong with the Republican plan, most of which could be corrected by trusting the free market – but there is one big thing right with it: it ends most of the worst aspects of Obamacare.