" Obama's ACA health care accelerated it."

You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

In the decade before Obamacare, medical inflation was over 4 times actual inflation. The trajectory was frightening.

Obamacare bent the trajectory downwards, and gave health plan Trustees (like me) some breathing room.

You're LITERALLY CLAIMING THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT HAPPENED.

" But my main point is this has been building for decades. Everywhere I worked, group plans climbed year after year often in the double digit"

Yes. THAT'S WHY we needed Obamacare.

And don't look now, but you just admitted the facts disproved your claim.

In reality, the rate of medical inflation radically DECREASED due to O'Care.

One of the reasons I know is, I was against Obamacare from the start, but admitted I would have to give props if the frightening medical inflation trajectory was favorably altered.

It was, and for that I have always given the credit to Obamacare.

Meanwhile, you're lying about it. The central tenet of your claim is bulllschittt.

" Health insurance costs have been rising faster than almost everything else for decades. The ACA didn't start that. Didn't fix it either."

What's higher, moron ... a 5% rise, or a 15% rise?

Actual Math only.

"I knew small businesses and self-employed who said ACA hurt them."

That's because of the mandate, not because of (the usual) leaps in premiums.

Plus, the self-employed get to write off 100% of the premiums against taxable income, including a spouse's premiums.

From Google AI:

Before the ACA (Pre-2010)
Consistently High Inflation: Medical inflation, measured by the Price Index for Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) for health care services, was consistently at or above 3% per year in the early 2000s.
After the ACA (Post-2010)
Slowing Inflation: Health care services price growth saw a significant decline after 2010, reaching a near-historical low point of under 1% in 2015.
Periods of Low Inflation:
The period between late 2014 and early 2016 saw particularly low healthcare inflation, a rate not seen since 1961.
Rebounding Inflation: From 2015 onward, healthcare inflation began to rebound, increasing from under 1% to nearly 2% by early 2018.
Long-Term Comparison Medical Care vs. Overall Inflation:
Medical care prices generally grew faster than overall consumer prices throughout the period from 2000 to 2024.
Growth in Out-of-Pocket Expenses: While overall medical inflation slowed after the ACA, out-of-pocket healthcare expenses increased at an average of 3.4% a year before the ACA (2000-2009) and a slower 1.9% a year after (2010-2018).

(Math: 3.4 minus 1.9 equals 1.5; divided by 3.4 = 44%)

"medical inflation."

Apologies: I should have said out-of-pocket medical expenses. My error.

The effect on the inflation was, obviously, greater than my claimed 44%.