Much of the focus with Obamacare, ie, the “Affordable” Care Act, has been on the premiums during the sign up season. Especially since so many have had to deal with the myriad of problems with the websites. But, there’s another bomb that will explode when people attempt to use the insurance
(WRAL) As a key enrollment deadline hits Monday, many people without health insurance have been sizing up policies on the new government health care marketplace and making what seems like a logical choice: They’re picking the cheapest one.
Increasingly, experts in health insurance are becoming concerned that many of these first-time buyers will be in for a shock when they get medical care next year and discover they’re on the hook for most of the initial cost.
The prospect of sticker shock after Jan. 1, when those who sign up for policies now can begin getting coverage, is seen as a looming problem for a new national system that has been plagued by trouble since the new marketplaces went online in the states in October.
Interesting. Associated Press writer Carla K. Johnson just referred to this as a “national system”. It’s almost like she recognizes that Obamacare is a takeover of the American medical system. Anyhow, she notes that people who haven’t had insurance before are in for a big shock once they see their actual deductibles in action, since they are tending to pick the cheapest plan. As are most people going through the Exchanges. And
Hospitals are worried that those who rack up uncovered medical bills next year won’t be able to pay them, perpetuating one of the problems the new health care system is supposed to solve.
Then there’s
On average, a bronze plan’s deductible is more than $4,300, according to an analysis of marketplace plans in 19 states by Avalere Health. A consumer who upgrades to a silver plan could reduce the deductible to about $2,500. A top-of-the-line platinum plan has the lowest average deductible: $167.
People who can barely afford health insurance aren’t going to be able to afford the deductibles, which means they are still mostly insurance-less. Of course, those are the deductibles for single folks. Families will have much higher deductibles.
“It’s all a matter of having a budget and it only goes so far,” said Agnone, an executive with a nonprofit charity based in Fairfield, which is about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. “There is no winning in this.”
It was never about winning, it was about putting the Government in the drivers seat of the whole health care system, about making more Americans dependent on The Government by either moving them to Medicaid or providing them with subsidies. About having The Government make decisions about what care is approved and what isn’t. Once the use of the insurance actually starts, Obamacare will surely get even less popular.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
It’s refreshing to see conservatives offering even faux concern for the less fortunate.
Weren’t cheap insurance plans with high-deductibles a conservative market-based idea that would make sure the consumers would have “skin in the game”, making healthcare choices based on their own economic self interests, and driving down consumption and prices?
There are two major issues that drive the move to universal healthcare: 1) Improving the overall health of the citizens of the nation – this is a moral as well as economice concern and 2) reducing the overall costs of healthcare – in the US we spend about twice as much per person as do other modern nations. Our service providers, drug companies, insurance companies, patent attorneys take almost $1 trillion PER YEAR extra out of the system that does not contribute to actual healthcare.
The trajectory of healthcare costs (before 2010) would bankrupt America.
Is there any core “principle” that a conservative will not violate to attack a Democratic policy? (you violate 2 in this post: Universal Disdain for the Poor. Balancing the Budget.)
“Universal healthcare.” As said, CBO estimates over 30 million still uninsured by 2019. Sorry.
You know, when I first saw Jeff commenting, I thought, just another stupid liberal. Now he is morphing into something different. Note the very careful use of universal talking points that come readily to his fingers. These are not the typical stupid remarks that you see on KOS. Instead, these are the type of remarks we see with—–the social engineers. Yes, I believe our old Jeff is one of the Soros bunch. Teach, you have achieved a certain status for sure as you are now the target of one of the modifiers of our thoughts. So, in the future, it will do little good to argue with our resident communist. He can not understand simple logic and is not being paid to do anything more than aimless argument.
There is no evidence that the ACA wil increase the overall health of citizens and in fact, the likelihood is that health care for the poor will lower, so the law fails on that point alone. Secondly. right now the US health care system takes up 1/6 of the GDP. The CBO estimates by 2020 it will take up 1/5 of the GDP. The law fails on that point as well.
So if you are using the very metrics Jiffy wants as to the success or failure of the law, by his own reasoning, the law fails.