New blow to the US Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

[Jester]

The desire for affordable healthcare for all has caused many to cast a blind eye to the problems with Obamacare. To take just one example, Forbes has determined

3,137-County Analysis: Obamacare Increased 2014 Individual-Market Premiums By Average Of 49%

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecar...age-of-49/

The Manhattan Institute study doesn't control for the quality and type of coverage. It only compares an average of the cheapest plans available before the ACA (regardless of coverage!) to those available after.

This does not take into account changes in the quality of coverage, nor does it do more than a simple kludge for dealing with how much the previously uninsured "would have" paid for insurance beforehand.

It also doesn't count subsidies, which is completely invalid for understanding the impact on consumers, especially poorer ones.

Which is not to say the study is without any value, but a simple story of "rates went up, therefore Obamacare has serious problems" does not follow from it.

-Jester