Obamacare cuts number of Tennesseans without health insurance by 28 percent

Tennessee's senior senator Lamar Alexander visited the Chattanooga Times Free Press for a conversation with the newspaper's editorial board. Senator Alexander discussed such topics as solar power and overtime pay issues.

The number of Tennesseans without health insurance has dropped by 28 percent since the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was adopted in 2010, adding 266,000 Tennesseans to the insurance rolls, government figures show.

Obama administration officials Tuesday said such gains, along with upgraded coverage for many employer-sponsored plans, make the controversial health program worth saving - and even expanding.

Although premium rates for individual insurance rates under the health exchange plans will jump by up to 62 percent next year in Tennessee, the overall Affordable Care Act has still provided new tax subsidies for low and moderate-income persons to buy individual plans and given protections for persons already covered with health plans through their job or through Medicare, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. said.

"Whether Tennesseans get coverage through an employer, Medicaid, the individual market or Medicare, they have better health coverage and care today as a result of the ACA," she said in a new report on Obamacare released just two days before Thursday's deadline for people to sign up for individual health exchange plans for all of 2017. "Millions of Americans with all types of coverage have a stake in the future of health reform. We need to build on our progress and continue to improve health care access, quality and affordability, not move our system backward."

President-elect Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare with better, more affordable health care coverage.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the state's biggest health insurer, will boost individual health insurance rates under Obamacare next year to more than double what they were only three years ago. The Chattanooga-based insurer said health care costs under Obamacare have risen faster than expected.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate health committee, said such premium rate increases prove that Obamacare is not working. He has pledged to work with incoming Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, currently a congressman from North Georgia, to develop a new federal health policy.

"Dr. Price has a thorough understanding of health care policy and the damage that Obamacare has caused - he can see the view from the doctor's office as well as from the lawmaker's office," Alexander said. "I look forward to working with him to find a responsible way to replace and then repeal Obamacare so we can move most health care decisions out of Washington, D.C., and back to states and patients."

But in its report, HHS said most of those buying the individual plans with the higher premiums qualify for tax subsidies. Most people pay less than $100 a month for their health insurance.

For the nearly 3.37 million Tennesseans covered through employer-sponsored health plans, HHS said Obamacare has helped by providing annual and lifetime limits on what individuals must pay and expanded coverage for 47,000 adults under age 26 to be on their parents' plan.

Obamacare mandates certain free preventive services - like flu shots, cancer screenings, contraception and mammograms - at no extra cost to consumers. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers also can't deny coverage to persons because of their pre-existing condition.

With expanded coverage and more people required to buy health insurance, Obamacare has helped slow the growth in premiums. The average premium for Tennessee families with employer coverage grew 4.2 percent per year from 2010-2015, compared with 6.9 percent over the previous decade.

Assuming Tennessee premiums grew in line with the national average in 2016, family premiums in Tennessee are $2,800 lower today than if growth had matched the pre-ACA decade.

Nonetheless, Jim Brown, state director of National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), said Obamacare did away with affordable options for many small business employers.

"Lots of our members had bare-bones, catastrophic coverage that they liked because it covered major events and it was cheap," Brown said. "Obamacare did away with that. Whatever they replace Obamacare with should have as its main purpose to bring down the cost of health insurance for the people who are paying for it."

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-63400.