By Jerry Geisel, Crain News Service
WASHINGTON (March 25, 2014) — As the healthcare reform law nears its fourth anniversary, the Obama administration and top congressional Republicans have very different views of what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has and has not accomplished.
President Barack Obama, who signed the reform legislation on March 30, 2010, said the ACA has led to a huge expansion of coverage.
“More Americans without insurance have gained coverage. Over the past four years, over 3 million young Americans have been able to stay on their family plans. And over the past five and a half months alone, more than 5 million Americans have signed up to buy private health insurance plans on” public health exchanges, President Obama said in a statement March 23.
In addition, there are “untold number of families who won't be driven into bankruptcy by out-of-pocket costs, because this law prevents insurers from placing dollar limits on the care you can receive,” the president said.
But Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has a different view of the healthcare reform law.
“Sadly, because of the health law, many Americans are needlessly worse off than they were four years ago. The law has upended the entire health system, and the last four years have been plagued by broken promises, missed deadlines and delays,” Rep. Upton said in a statement last week.
“Millions of health plans have been cancelled, premiums have skyrocketed, and countless Americans have lost access to their trusted doctors,” he added.
________________________________________________
This report appeared on businessinsurance.com, the website of Business Insurance magazine, a Chicago-based sister publication of Tire Business.
