So says the table from Gallup, here. The 3.9 pt. difference in the share fully paying for their own coverage since 2013 represents a 22% increase.
How many was that in millions of people, you may ask.
In 2013 there were approximately 190 million Americans 18 to 64 years of age. 17.6% fully paying for their own coverage was approximately 33 million people at the time. Fast forward to 2016 and the number is now approaching 42 million. Meanwhile even though the sample population is up 3 million over the period, the number receiving coverage from an employer has actually fallen 220,000 to 83.76 million in 2016.
And as everyone knows who buys their own coverage, costs have soared. My costs since 2010 are up only 67%, but that's only because I chose higher deductibles as time went by. My deductible is now up 300%. Same plan, but it would now cost me $10,000 out of pocket instead of $2,500 in any emergency. Apart from that, everytime I need routine healthcare, like seeing a doctor to update a prescription, or the prescription itself, or glasses, or my teeth cleaned and checked, it's all on me.
So it's no surprise that apart from coverage costs soaring, healthcare services spending in unchained dollars of GDP is up 19% since 2012, from $1.836 trillion then to almost $2.185 trillion annualized as of the second quarter now. That's an extra almost $350 billion being spent on actual healthcare services consumption in the last four years, all coming out of consumers' pockets.
Obamacare has been a disaster to the budgets of millions of ordinary Americans.
