When campaigning for the presidency, then-candidate Barack Obama repeatedly promised that under his health care reform proposal, health insurance premiums would go down by $2,500 by the end of his first term. The end of President Obama’s first term is now approaching, and the change in average family premiums is surprisingly close to candidate Obama’s promise: the problem is, that change is in the wrong direction. Instead of falling $2,500, the average employer-sponsored family premium has increased $2,393.

The difference, then, between candidate Obama’s promise and President Obama’s record is $4,893. But that is just the difference for 2012. If the promised $2,500 decline is allocated proportionally over four years and across different plan types, the cumulative gap between actual and promised premiums for private health insurance equals $12,271 for the average family and $4,177 for the average individual.

 

See the entire JEC Republican study attached in pdf format below: