CNN host Poppy Harlow informed Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) on Monday that parts of former President Obama's landmark health care law are "not affordable for a number of Americans."
Harlow used Connecticut, Murphy's state, as an example and said that the Silver Plan premium would increase by 25 percent in 2017.
"When I look at Connecticut, the fact is that this year in 2017, the Silver Plan premium is expected to go up 25 percent," Harlow said. "It's going up 116 percent in Arizona. There are parts of this that are not affordable for a number of Americans."
"Something needs to change," Harlow added.
While there are some things in the the Affordable Care Act that many Americans support, rising premiums are not one of them. According to a Black Book Market Research survey, only 22 percent of Obamacare enrollees rated their plan as good, very good, or excellent in 2017, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The group polled 34,800 individuals who were enrolled in Obamacare coverage from January 2015 through February 2017 and found that the strongest dissatisfaction with Obamacare was with 2017 plans that had premium increases, a lack of competitors to choose from, narrower networks, declining consumer support, and curtailed benefits.
"Maintaining a high level of support has been nearly impossible since this last open enrollment began as several plans accepting the bulk of 2017 regional enrollees failed to congruently ramp up member services support to process claims, respond to enrollment issues, answer provider questions, denials, authorizations, and payment postings," said Douglas Brown, managing partner at Black Book Research.
Survey respondents were asked how their coverage differed from year to year. From 2015 to 2016, under 10 percent of Obamacare enrollees said their coverage had gotten worse. However, from 2016 to 2017, that number jumped to 58 percent, with these enrollees saying their health care plan had measurably declined over the year.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit health organization, also conducted a survey focused on assessing Obamacare and the effect that it has on families in some of the battleground states from the 2016 election, the Free Beacon reported.
While there were some participants who had positive experiences with their coverage under Obamacare, many said they were "overwhelmed" by how unaffordable the out-of-pocket costs and high deductibles were under their plans. They also expressed concern over surprise medical bills and the cost of prescription medications.
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According to these respondents, when Obamacare is repealed and replaced, their top priority for reform would be to improve the affordability of coverage, including premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
While respondents noted that Trump did not have many specifics on what health care reform would look like, they were confident that Trump would make things better. They said they wanted a replacement that would be affordable and would improve access to more doctors and physicians.