Robert Kraig WRN filre photo
Health care “hyperinflation” continues to be an issue in Wisconsin, according to the annual Health Insurance Cost Ranking report released by Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
“We have data in the large group market back to the year 2000,” said Robert Kraig with Citizen Action. Kraig cited a “dramatic increase” in which premiums and deductibles increase by 226 percent statewide, with even greater variations within regions.
Kraig said data also shows that such hyperinflation can’t necessarily be tied to Obamacare. The group released it’s annual report on Wednesday.
“Claims that health insurance costs have spiked because of the Affordable Care Act are not supported by this data,” he said. “Claims that repealing the Affordable Care Act will bring prices down are not well grounded in the actual history of hyperinflation in health insurance in Wisconsin.”
Kraig said the pace of insurance inflationary costs leveled off since the start of the Affordable Care Act, and that the hyperinflation in the small group market was seven times higher in the 13 years before implementation of the Affordable Care Act than in the four years since.
Nationally, some 22 million people could lose coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed by Congress and the incoming Trump administration.
“There are some Trump supporters I do believe who voted against their self-interest on this particular issue,” said state Senator Jon Erpenbach, a Dane County Democrat. “They may like the idea of repealing Obamacare, but at the same time of them actually use the Affordable Care Act to get their insurance.”