The New York Times has a wonderfully political opinion piece titled: “Insurance Policies Not Worth Keeping,” mouthing the Obama administration’s spin defending the lies they perpetrated to get the votes to pass Obamacare in 2009.
The piece states,“By law, insurers cannot continue to sell policies that don’t provide the minimum benefits and consumer protections…” thereby confirming Mr. Obama’s lied to us. (NYT say’s Mr. Obama “misspoke.”)
Obamacare requires “minimum benefits” in every healthcare policy sold in the United States. These health services are now fully socialized under Obamacare, meaning that every citizen paying a healthcare policy premium shares the cost of providing these services even though they may never consume such services. NYT editors then go on to “misspeak” again as follows: “At issue here are not the 149 million people covered by employer plans, but the 10 million to 12 million people who buy policies directly on the individual market.” This statement is totally untrue, a misstatement, or if you will, a lie offered again to sell a political point of view.
This first list of Obamacare regulatory requirements (more will no doubt be imposed) means that most private individual healthcare policies as well as employer provided healthcare coverages become illegal. See this from Forbes. Forbes reports that the Obama administration itself estimates that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will become illegal in 2014 while 40 to 67 percent of individually-purchased plans will become illegal in 2014. Forbes estimates this encompasses 93 million Americans who will be required to purchase or be subject to more expansive and thus more expensive healthcare policies beginning in 2014 cannot keep their plan, cannot keep their doctors, and will pay more.
NYT editors then conclude: “For individuals, it [the penalty for not buying health coverage] starts at $95 or 1 percent of applicable yearly income in 2014, whichever is higher, and rises to $695 or 2.5 percent of applicable income in 2016. But why pay the penalty and get nothing when you can pay a reasonable fee and get a good policy?”
Let me answer that question for them. You don’t receive any co-pay/deductible subsidy if you purchase a “Catastrophic” level plan. In Florida Healthcare.gov tell me such plans for young singles will cost $1,800 per year before subsidies and have a $6,350 out of pocket limit for co-pays and deductibles. For a “Silver” level plan a young person making $20,000 a year pays an average premium of $1,021 after subsidies, their co-pays and deductibles total $2,250, yet the penalty for not buying coverage is $200 in 2014 and $500 in 2016. A family of four making $35,000 would pay $5,373 in total subsidized premiums plus co-pay/deductibles in 2014 compared to a 2014 $350 penalty for not having insurance and a $2,085 penalty in 2016.
If you understand basic math you would pay the penalty and purchase a policy as soon as you get sick or injured. (Here are some other calculations using the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Reform Subsidy Calculator.) So, who is going to sign up for this? Mostly sick people and you know what that means.
This all confirms that the NYT editorial board is gratuitously political and cannot be relied upon to convey the full scope of relevant facts underlying their flawed judgments.
To some people, good intentions and political ideology are worth any price, including their credibility. Me? I’ll take freedom.
Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org