@chaski Said
Please forgive me for oversimplifying this…
When the economy is strong typically a number of things go up. That is they go up in price. One example is Rent. When you economy stronger people charge more for rent.
Also when you can't to be a stronger other things go up...housing prices sometimes, interest rates sometimes go up... the cost of various goods from groceries to textiles.
Why do the prices or cost of these things go up? Because corporations believe people can now afford to pay more.
Insurance premiums are no different. Yes, sometimes insurance premiums go up because of things like: someone is making claims on accidents or household theft, or storms, hurricanes, blizzard's…
Other times premiums go up because economy is stronger and the insurance companies believe that people can pay more, and can't afford to pay more, and it won't hurt them so they won't complain or go to a new insurance company....
Healthcare is the same as all of these. The economy is stronger now... So premiums go up.
And yes, in part, the ACA has also allowed for these increases.
Again, sorry I way oversimplifed all of that.
This is partially true, however it has been going up at a much faster rate than economic growth indicators, far outpacing overall inflation and wage growth. Premiums rose 19% and deductibles rose 63% from 2011 to 2016, whereas inflation and wages rose only in the single digits over that time span. This indicates there is far much more at play in the increasing costs of medical care than economic growth.
And this was the very type of thing that the Affordable Care Act was supposed to tamper, hence its name. And this failure is something Americans are recognizing in increasing numbers as well, according to voter polls.