Tom Clere: ACA thriving

Has J. Peder Zane, in his Aug. 12 column “Imagining a world without Blue Cross,” pronounced the death of the Affordable Care Act prematurely? Zane is certainly justified in sounding an alarm.

In North Carolina and some other states, companies are proposing steep rate increases for the second year of the ACA. However, this is an entirely new program with many bugs to work out; subsequent years may produce better prices on policies.

Meanwhile, on the positive side, over a half million North Carolinians are receiving long-needed medical care. And in the big picture, the Congressional Budget Office reported that 2015 represents the slowest rate of growth in health care spending nationally since that figure began to be recorded in 1960. Also, it says that health care price inflation is at its lowest rate in 50 years.

Somebody must be doing something right. Health care is such a complex subject that we simply cannot draw hasty conclusions.

This story was originally published August 18, 2015 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Tom Clere: ACA thriving."