Obamacare: The Final Grubering

**Written by Doug Powers

Remember this? Good times:

If this was the result of a private sector company’s sales push that was billed as “Affordable” its execs would by now have been hauled before the Senate for a verbal waterboarding from Elizabeth Warren:

Premiums will go up sharply next year under President Barack Obama’s health care law, and many consumers will be down to just one insurer, the administration confirmed Monday. That’s sure to stoke another “Obamacare” controversy days before a presidential election.

Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.

Moreover, about 1 in 5 consumers will only have plans from a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers such as UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna scaled back their roles.

“Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period,” said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Michelle’s all too aware of Obamacare’s built-in design flaws. Up next, Hillary and others will propose to “fix” this by pushing to implement three times as much of what caused the original catastrophe. It will be the boldest attempt yet to re-write the definition of insanity.

But don’t worry — Obama’s pledged to do the same for airline ticket prices that he’s done for health insurance. He will not be denied a legacy.

**Written by Doug Powers

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