Obamacare’s choices:

You are 25 years old, healthy, single, self employed, and have annual income of $35,000. Consider this 2014 choice.

1. You can buy Obamacare health insurance for 2014 for $2,545 that has an annual out of pocket maximum of $6,350. So, if you have need for serious medical care you will have maximum costs of $8,895.
2. Because you did not buy Obamacare health insurance you might need to pay a tax of $350, plus you will need to pay for all your health costs realized in 2014. You know that you will be able to buy a health policy at close to the same 2014 price effective January 1, 2015.

Hmmmm…. if I don’t have any health problems of note in 2014 I can (1) pay a premium of $2,545 plus some minor out of pocket costs or (2) pay the same minor out of pocket costs plus (maybe) a $350 tax. Am I willing to take the chance that if I do get sick I will have to spend more than the premium and out of pocket maximum less the tax (about $8,500)?

Which would you chose and why?

The academic behavioral geniuses who designed the Rube-Goldberg contraption we know as Obamacare think millions of young people will buy the insurance. I doubt it.

Here is a table I created using the Kaiser Health Obamacare calculator.

It seems reasonable that even those getting a subsidy might consider themselves better off paying the penalty tax and not buying a policy.

Interesting perhaps but it means nothing to Mr. Obama as his goal is to make insurance available to those who do not have it (most by their own choice) at any cost. He could care less if someone who does not qualify for a subsidy buys insurance. Obamacare is set up so the government pays for insurance company loses for the next three years if they don’t sign up enough healthy people with policies having excessive coverages that are therefore over priced.

Subsidy costs and insurance company loses will be picked up by all US taxpayers regardless of how many young healthy people buy Obamacare policies.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

November  14, 2013

Two months ago Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz were called crazy and were repudiated by leaders of their own political party for their “semi-filibuster/government shutdown” efforts in pursuit of compromise with Democratic Senate leaders and Mr. Obama on Obamacare, who notably refused to budge.

Many Americans wake up today after literally years of yelling at the top of our lungs that Obamacare would not work, to find those responsible for the disaster desperate to save some remnants of what is now a lost cause. Democratic Senate leaders and Mr. Obama are now ready to budge.

Our thanks go out to Mike Lee and Ted Cruz for demonstrating leadership.

Now it is time to stop yelling as the argument is won. It is time to work to offer the country an American solution to our health care needs. Today is the inflection point. Today.

The system before Obamacare was indeed an unfair, overly expensive, special interest driven mess needing to be fixed. There are two roads, single payer or free market. The American solution is free market.

What Obamacare attempted to fix by statist mandate can only be fixed by free market policy including equalizing tax deductibility of health costs between individuals and business, creating a national truly competitive market for health insurance, equalizing “in network” and “out of network” deductibles, requiring public pricing of medical services prior to the provision of service, subsidies and risk pools to address ability to pay and pre-existing conditions, and many more reforms that make medical providers accountable to their patients for price, care, and quality; and that make patients accountable to their medical providers for fair payment for services provided.

We must seize this inflection point to offer an American solution. Call your representatives in congress.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

You must use healthcare.gov if you are a legal US resident who qualifies for a subsidy and who wishes to buy a health policy rather than pay a tax. The subsidy is realized only as a tax credit and is available only by buying insurance via a government-run marketplace.

For those not qualifying for a subsidy Healthcare.gov serves only as a data collector and a place where you can see a list of policies available in your locale. While you will be able (some day) to purchase a policy directly on healthcare.gov you can also go to insurance company web sites to get information about available plans and buy a policy.

The idea that Obamacare offers a health insurance “marketplace” is a complete fraud. The term is used to give the impression of a free market where you can compare competitively priced health plans that meet your needs. The reality is that the “marketplace” simply lists the pricing of plans that meet Obamacare requirements (NOT your needs). Minimum requirement plans from “competing” insurance companies are all priced close to each other and differ only in minor ways such as different levels of co-pays for various services. The insurance companies then increase premiums for plans that offer lower deductibles and lower copays. (A rational customer would only purchase these higher priced (Silver, Gold, and Platinum) plans if they expected to incur medical costs above the lower deductibles sufficient to compensate for the higher premium. In other words, only people who are already really sick should be willing to pay for more than a Bronze Obamacare plan.)

I have been self employed and use an Aetna policy to cover myself and my family. My Aetna policy has been outlawed effective December 15, 2014 (I am one of the fortunate few who get a year’s reprieve.). I do not qualify for a subsidy.

I compared my current pre-Obamacare policy for 2014 with Obamacare policies. Here are the premiums and out of pocket costs for my family of four, non smokers, ages 64, 59, 23, and 21 assuming we use only providers in the insurance company networks (the lowest cost alternative):

Current Health Plan:

Aetna Open Access POS 2014 premium: $7,632. In network out of pocket max per person $10,000 – per family $20,000.

Two Obamacare Bronze Plan Alternatives:

Aetna Advantage 6350 PD 2014 premium: $19,668. In network out of pocket max per person $6,350 – per family $12,700.

Florida Blue Everyday Health 1449 2014 premium: $19,044. In network out of pocket max per person $6,250 – per family $12,500.

Looking back a few years, the four of us average a total of about $4,000 per year in health care expenses that apply against the deductible/out of pocket max in the policy. So, our total annual cost if we stay relatively healthy is about $12,000 per year ($7,632 premium plus $4,000 in expenses). Under the Aetna Obamacare policy given our history we will have total annual costs of $23,668 ($19,668 premium plus $4,000 in expenses). Obamacare thus imposes almost $12,000 on our family in additional annual costs assuming we all stay relatively healthy.

Under our current policy, the total annual exposure is the premium plus the out of pocket max, together totaling $27,632 if we experience severe medical problems.

Under the Aetna Obamacare policy, the worst case annual cost in premium and out of pocket totals $32,368 ($19,668 premium plus $12,700 out of pocket max). Obamacare thus imposes $5,000 on our family in additional annual costs assuming we experience severe medical problems.

The end result of Obamacare is that everyone who does not get a subsidy gets punished while everyone who would previously go the emergency room for care can still go to the emergency room for care and either pay a tax of up to a couple hundred dollars or buy a subsidized health policy that has an out of pocket max they likely won’t be able to pay anyway.

Those receiving subsidies under Obamacare could have been helped with direct tax credits that would cost far less than cost increases imposed on hard working Americans by this horrid and grossly unfair law.

The disaster continues…

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

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

Thanks to Jon Gabriel at Freedom Works for this:

Read the full post.

How much longer until we elect people committed to sanity?

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org