How Obamacare Could Increase the Number of Uninsured Americans

A forthcoming academic report is warning that in 10 years, 40 million Americans will be without health insurance — a 10 percent increase — and Obamacare will be to blame.

It says that after 2017, health insurance premiums will escalate so high that an increasing number of employers will opt to pay the less expensive fine, and the individuals, finding few affordable options on the exchanges, will choose to do the same by 2024.
The report is by Bianca Frogner, assistant professor for health services management and leadership at George Washington University, and Stephen Parente, associate dean of the Carlson School of Management and director of the Medical Industry Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota.

“There will be a significant number of uninsured Americans unwilling or unable to pay for the inflated insurance available on the exchanges and forced to pay penalties, which for 2016 and thereafter will be the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of income,” Parente wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed previewing the report. “More will choose this option every year. By 2024, Ms. Frogner and I estimate that there will be more than 40 million uninsured, roughly 10 percent more than today.”

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