The latest data measurement of Obamacare shows the health care reform is falling short of its objective: Health-care consumers and providers in 2014 both felt the squeeze of rising health-care costs, with out-of-pocket expenses for patients rising 11 percent.

TransUnion Healthcare, in a report released Wednesday, said costs rose even more — about 20 percent on average — for the employers who provide medical coverage for their employees. As a result, employers are under increasing pressure to share the burden with their employees while struggling to maintain an adequate compensation package.

Gerry McCarthy, president of TransUnion Healthcare sees a direct link between the rising costs and the Affordable Care Act — the official name for Obamacare.

“Deductibles have nearly doubled over the past five years through the adoption of high deductible plans offered by employers and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” McCarthy says in the report. “Despite a slowly improving economy, many consumers are finding they have less money to make these payments.”

Health insurance providers also blame a convoluted medical billing procedure that reflects a bureaucracy of delay, denial and confusion. The TransUnion study, a survey of 7,400 patients, found that 54 percent of patients were confused by their medical bills; 62 percent were surprised by the amount of their out-of-pocket expenses; and, while 80 percent of the respondents said estimates would be helpful, only 25 percent were offered estimates ahead of their health care procedure.

TransUnion says its report included anonymous data estimates for patient payment responsibilities from thousands of providers, including health care clinics from across the nation. The information was then compared with the credit information company’s financial data.

Unfortunately, it did not differentiate between those who are covered by insurance and those covered by Medicaid, the federal program that provides medical care for millions of Americans who oterhwise couldn’t afford it.

While Medicaid provides a vital service to those who need it, it’s not the same as private insurance. Studies indicate fewer than 70 percent of doctors accept Medicaid recipients; and, for those who do accept them, the Medicaid patients are six times more likely to be denied an appointment or to wait more than a month to see the doctor.

The reason: money. Doctor reimbursements for Medicaid are smaller than private health insurance payments — even with the addition of more than $5.5 billion in federal subsidies during 2013-14.

Those subsidies, by the way, fell on top of privately insured patients’ rising out-of-pocket expenses, in the form of higher taxes.

And the load on the taxpayer will only increase. Thanks in large part to ACA, Medicaid enrollment has grown by about 20 million users since 2011. As National Review columnist Michael Tanner wrote recently, “It doesn’t require an economic genius to realize what happens when increased demand meets reduced supply.”

It’s a double-whammy. Higher out-of-pocket costs plus higher taxes to subsidize Medicaid.

Further upsetting the equation is a looming doctor shortage. The TransUnion study observes that older doctors are retiring and there are fewer young doctors to replace them. It’s a perfect storm of trouble because the baby boomers are aging and need more care.

Obamacare simply isn’t working as advertised; yet, the longer ACA exists, the more difficult and painful it would be to reverse direction. Better for the president and Congress to come up with solid reforms to the ACA or face the looming crisis it was created to stop.