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Commissioner Marks 5th Anniversary of Obamacare in Wash.

Mike Kreidler
Washington State Insurance Commissioner

This week marks the fifth year of the Affordable Care Act. This week the office of Insurance Commissioner released figures that tout the success of the Affordable Care Act. Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler says the program has been an overwhelming success in the state.

Commissioner Mike Kreidler says the numbers indicate that before Obamacare went into effect, there were about a million people without health insurance in the state, now the number is 600,000.

Kreidler: “You see a significant increase in the number of insurers in the health insurance market. A 50 percent increase. We’re seeing a record decline in health insurance premiums, compared to the double digit increases of a few years ago, now it’s down to two percent.”

Kreidler defends against critics who say they have lost coverage they had before ACA went into effect, saying those old policies did not meet ACA requirements for things like covering pre-existing conditions , a ban on lifetime limits on health benefits, and preventative services with no deductibles or co pays.

And he also is blunt in saying efforts to overturn the ACA and leave those covered without insurance are a mistake.

Kreidler: “Always remember, if they don’t have health insurance coverage, they are still going to access the health care system, and their going to wind up getting care that is going to be cost shifted to other people with health insurance.”

Kreidler says if the Supreme Court rules that subsidies are illegal in the states that allow the federal government to run their version of the ACA, it will have a negative economic impact on states that have their own program , like Washington.

Steve was part of the Spokane Public Radio family for many years before he came on air in 1999. His wife, Laurie, produced Radio Ethiopia in the late 1980s through the '90s, and Steve used to “lurk in the shadowy world” of Weekend SPR. Steve has done various on air shifts at the station, including nearly 15 years as the local Morning Edition host. Currently, he is the voice of local weather and news during All Things Considerd, writing, editing, producing and/or delivering newscasts and features for both KPBX and KSFC. Aside from SPR, Steve ,who lives in the country, enjoys gardening, chickens, playing and listening to music, astronomy, photography, sports cars and camping.
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