More people now have health insurance

To the editor:

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski conveniently left out some facts in her recent harangue on Obama Care in the ADN (Sept. 29, 2014). Here are some additional statistics that you should know:

1) More people are now insured. More than 10 million people have enrolled in insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

2) Insurance premiums, both for the insured and the employer are not rising quickly, as threatened by the law’s opponents. Multiple studies have shown this. More companies are jumping in to compete in providing health care insurance, thus putting negative pressure on increases.

3) Insurance companies are doing very well, thank you. The stock prices for the large health insurance providers have risen between 15 percent and 30 percent during the last year. “Aetna’s profits are up this year as medical costs stay low,” Reuters reports.

4) Overall, health care costs are rising at historically low rates.

Obviously the ACA got off to a rocky start — as do many large programs — and fixes are necessary. But the scare tactics used by opponents of the health care law have been proved wrong in most instances. The most important statistic is that more people now have health insurance.

The problem in Alaska is that Gov. Sean Parnell did not accept the Medicaid expansion. It would mean more jobs for Alaskans and more Alaskans with health insurance. The Walker-Mallott ticket supports the Medicaid expansion. Remember that when you go to the polls in November.

Patricia Fisher

Wasilla