Study finds that health care reform will bring more insurance coverage to many, but at higher cost

Health InsuranceLast year’s health care overhaul continues to be the most controversial legislations passed championed by the current administration. Confronted with concerns that the nations health care system was unbalanced and on the verge of cataclysmic collapse, President Obama and his compatriots sought to make changes that would improve the system overall. Though the health care reform aims to increase the number of people that have access to insurance coverage, how such a feat will be accomplished remains something of a mystery.

Last year, soon after the notorious Affordable Care Act was passed, the government of Wisconsin hired Goman Actuarial, a consulting firm specializing in health insurance, and economist Jonathan Gruber to conduct a study of the effects the reform would have. Gruber, along with Goman analysts, spent the next year examining the effects of the health care law and have released their findings.

Their study shows that, in Wisconsin, the changes made to the health care system will account for a 65% decrease in the number of uninsured people in the state by 2016. While this is good news, to be sure, the study also notes that the vast majority of those receiving health insurance through employers will see rate increases averaging 41%. Researchers say that these trends are not isolated to Wisconsin and will be prevalent throughout the nation in varying degrees.

Overall, the study shows that the health care reform will, indeed, enable more people to obtain insurance coverage, but at a much higher cost that originally anticipated.

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