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Health Care Costs as Much as a New Car

"Health care for a family covered by a large employer cost, on average, $22,885 last year. That's $2,000 more than the sticker price for a brand-new Volkswagen Beetle.... Roughly $15,000 of that $22,885 comes from employers' contribution to their workers' premiums.... Workers chip in an average of $4,706 per year premiums, and then spend an additional of $3,020 out of pocket. Combined, that's almost 4 times more than the average family spends on gas in a year."

The ACA Stability 'Crisis' in Perspective

"84% of the enrollees in the marketplaces -- about 8.7 million people -- receive premium subsidies under the ACA and are insulated from these premium hikes. However, roughly 6.7 million people -- the ones who buy ACA-compliant plans inside or outside the marketplace and aren't subsidized -- will feel the full brunt of premium increases. They'll be hit if the uncertainty is not resolved and the rates do not come down before they are finalized. In many cases, there is as much as a 20 percentage point swing or more in rates depending on whether the CSRs are paid."

It's Not Just the Uninsured -- It's Also the Cost of Health Care

"Now that the [ACA] has expanded health coverage, the percentage of the non-elderly population that is uninsured is now just under 11%, the lowest level ever recorded.... Another 15.5% who have insurance either skipped or delayed care because of the cost or reported that they or someone in their family faced problems paying their bills in 2017. That brings the total percentage of non-elderly people with insurance and affordability problems to 26.2%. More striking: nearly half of all people in fair or poor health -- 46.4% -- are uninsured or have affordability problems despite having coverage."

The New Health Care Agenda: Gridlock, Lots of Hearings

"No new health legislation of any significance will pass in this Congress. Democrats in the House will try to come together on a health agenda for the party while their presidential candidates pursue their own platforms. Democratic oversight of the administration's actions in the House will be unremitting and in the news. And most of the real action affecting people will be in the states."

Trump's Dealmaking Model Doesn't Fit Health Care Policy

"The partisan divide in health policy is grounded in deeply felt differences on both sides over policy and principle. It's hard to see Trump's approach to deal making working very often in health. This was why Trump couldn't force a deal with the Freedom Caucus to pass the American Health Care Act in the House; the bill was not conservative enough for the caucus, and in their eyes, it violated their principles and political promises they had made. It is also why using Obamacare's marketplace cost sharing subsidies as a bargaining chip to try to force the Democrats to the table is unlikely to work."

Corporate Health Care Costs Don't Look Like a Crisis

"[O]ver the last 10 years, health costs as a percentage of overall compensation for larger employers ... have moved in a narrow band, between 8 and 9 percent of total compensation. For all private employers, it has remained between 7 and 8 percent of compensation over the same period. Premium growth has also been modest -- in the 3 to 4 percent a year range -- and is not likely to jump in 2019. There is no question that workers are feeling the pain of out-of-pocket costs, but that's a different problem."

Why Deductibles Would Rise Under the GOP Health Care Plan

"[T]he average deductible for a typical plan in the non-group market under the GOP plan would be about $1,550 higher in 2017 than it would have been under the [ACA] ... Most of the debate has been about what would happen to premiums -- but for consumers, it's total out-of-pocket costs that matter.... The result: premiums may be lower in some cases, but deductibles will go up."

Prescription Drug Costs Break Through the Partisan Logjam

"Republicans are almost as likely as Democrats, and more likely than independents, to pick lowering the costs of prescription drugs as a priority for President Trump and the Congress. It's the number two priority in health for all Americans, just behind reducing out of pocket costs in general."