Obamacare: Five years in

Carl Finamore, Socialist Worker - The controversial law does contain some important positives for regular folks. For example, it guarantees coverage for everyone without tacking on higher premiums because of pre-existing medical conditions and it requires annual free preventive-care health checks for those on Medicare.

But five years in, as critics continue to emphasize, the ACA still primarily serves as a huge government marketing campaign for private insurance companies, funneling millions of new customers with few if any restrictions on ever-escalating prices.

"The ACA built upon the flaws of our market-based system and, quite predictably, is failing to contain costs and provide broad access to affordable, quality health care. Corporate interests still trump the common good in U.S. health care," wrote John P. Geyman in a five-year ACA assessment appearing in the February 10 International Journal of Health Services.

Dr. Geyman is not alone. Other very prominent scholars and caregivers agree that ACA's reliance on private insurers is its downfall.

For example, the developer of the cardiac defibrillator, Dr. Bernard Lown, completely dismisses their role in providing quality care for the simple fact that "like all businesses, their goal is to make money."

In essence, we still only get the care we can afford depending on which of the thousands of plans we subscribe. Ability to pay is still the big problem.

As a result, medical bills remain the number one reason for personal bankruptcy even though most of the petitioners have health insurance. For the rest of us, it's not much better.

Roughly 40 percent of Americans have trouble paying medical bills, as noted in an extremely detailed 2011 National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance commissioned by the Commonwealth Fund.

And, though many have found policies with affordable premiums, the report also indicated that adults are likelier than those in other developed countries to forgo care because of cost.

In the past five years, according to a thorough 2015 Bloomberg View review, the average price to see a primary care doctor has risen 20 percent. For a specialist, it's gone up 29 percent and for outpatient surgery it's up 43 percent.

No wonder, the article explains, 22 percent of people now say the cost of getting care has led them to delay treatment for a serious condition. That's the highest percentage since Gallup started asking in 2001. Another poll cited found as many as 16 million adults with chronic conditions have avoided the doctor because of out-of-pocket costs.