Why the Affordable Care Act Deserves a New Name

Even though, healthcare.gov has been live and “functional” for two years, users are still reporting on-going website bugs and glitches. This clunky Health Insurance Exchange Website, launched from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA ObamaCare,) has exceeded the initial building budget of $93.7 million by almost $400 million. It has cost the government roughly $500 million and this was just prior to the website’s launch.

Not only was the process to launch HealthCare.gov, a long and tedious one, but it is also proving to be an expensive and time-consuming one for users enrolling in the program. Monthly premiums have only been increasing and are at an all-time high. According to new information from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS,) the current monthly premium on average is $408. This is the unsubsidized premium price, meaning the monthly price for individuals who don’t qualify for a subsidy or tax credit from the government. Most would argue that $408 a month is not a reasonable expense.

It has also been reported that the monthly premiums are only going to escalate in price. In 2016, rates are expected to rise 20.3% on average, according to a recent report by The Daily Caller.

Evidently, this is causing previous supporters of ObamaCare to question the value of the program. The Affordable Care Act is costing millions of tax payer’s dollars in an attempt to make healthcare more reasonably priced. However, these healthcare premiums are proving to not be affordable. That’s why the act deserves a more fitting name. Perhaps, like the Unaffordable Care Act?