Reuters<\/a> (8\/2\/16) – “Consumers coming back to shop for 2017 will continue to have a robust set of choices.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n New York Times<\/a> (8\/19\/16) – \u201cA number of steps remain before the full picture of marketplace competition and prices are known. Regardless, we remain confident that the majority of marketplace consumers will have multiple choices<\/strong> and will be able to select a plan for less than $75 per month<\/strong> when Open Enrollment begins Nov. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Tennessean<\/a> (8\/25\/16) – \u201cConsumers in Tennessee will continue to have affordable coverage options in 2017<\/strong>. Last year, the average monthly premium for people with Marketplace coverage getting tax credits increased just $2, from $102 to $104 per month<\/strong>, despite headlines suggesting double digit increases.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As you can see, the chosen narrative of Connolly is to focus on the premiums paid by the overwhelming minority of healthcare consumers that actually receive subsidized rates under Obamacare.\u00a0 While this may be the only “convenient” fact that Connolly could find to peddle, it ignores the skyrocketing rates that the other 95% of people, mostly middle-class Americans, have to pay.<\/p>\n So, here’s the real math.\u00a0<\/strong> There are roughly 320mm people in the United States.\u00a0 120mm people are covered under Medicare and Medicaid which leaves 200mm to be covered by “private” health insurance plans.\u00a0 In 2016, roughly 11.1mm people signed up for “private” health insurance through one of the Obamacare federal or state exchanges.\u00a0 Of those people, it is estimated that roughly 85%, or ~9.5mm people, received some level of “need-based” subsidy .\u00a0 News flash Department of Health and Human Services, 9.5mm people is less than 5% of the 200mm people seeking private health insurance.<\/strong>\u00a0 The other 95% is America’s middle class and they’re getting crushed.<\/p>\n As for Connolly’s suggestion that consumers will continue to have “robust” choices in 2017…we’re not sure that people in the majority of the Southeast and Midwest with only 1 “option” for 2017 would agree.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And, as for premiums…we’re not sure that a 21% YoY median increase is necessarily “affordable.”<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fact is, the overwhelming majority of the 95% we mention above is comprised of middle-class consumers who are bearing the brunt of the burden of rising health insurance costs.\u00a0 In fact, a June Brookings Institution study found that middle-income households now devote the largest share of their spending to health care ever, 8.9%, a rise of more than three percentage points from 1984 to 2014.<\/strong>\u00a0 Per the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, since 2007 middle-class families have been forced to increase the share of their overall spending on healthcare by nearly 25% while cutting back massively on other necessities to cover the difference.<\/p>\n So here in one simple chart is why President Obama’s Affordable Care Tax is crushing the middle-class more than any other social strata…<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n So, for those wondering why the “recovery” from the “great recession” has been so muted perhaps you need to look no further than the massive healthcare tax imposed on the middle class by Obamacare.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Obamacare](\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user230519\/imageroot\/2016\/08\/27\/Obamacare%20Carriers_0.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"2017](\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user230519\/imageroot\/2016\/08\/18\/Obamacare%202017%20Premium%20Bar%20Chart_0.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Middle](\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user230519\/imageroot\/2016\/08\/18\/Middle%20Class%20Spending%20on%20Healthcare_0.jpg\")
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