We all know by now that the Obamacare Exchanges do not work. It is nearly impossible to sign on even though the traffic to the federal site has fallen by about 90% since the first few days. Less than a handful of people have purchase insurance even though the original federal plan for the site expected that over a million policies would have been sold by now. We learned yesterday that the data collected from those who actually did sign up is wrong and may make coverage for those folks problematical. It is a technological disaster. But all this management failure by president Obama and his people is covering up a problem that is much worse even than the tech disaster. The truth is that Obamacare is NOT going to improve the extent of healthcare coverage in America.
Remember that the principal reason given by Obama for passage of Obamacare was to get insurance for the 45 or 50 million uninsured across the country. Obamacare was touted as a system that will cut that number of uninsured in half. The real truth, however, is now leaking out since the exchanges began going live. The reality is that many people who the government will force to buy coverage will have no meaningful access to medical treatment. Let me explain this.
All across the country there are millions of young adults who have no coverage now. Most of these folks have the ability under the current system to buy a policy for something in the area of $200 to $300 per month, but they do not do so because the $2400 to $3600 annual cost is just too much for them to afford. Under Obamacare, these people are mandated to buy a policy. The problem, of course, is that the policy will cost something like $400 to $500 per month unless they are able to get a federal subsidy. Clearly, folks who could not afford $300 per month cannot afford $500 per month. But many of these people will get subsidies. Let's say that the subsidy covers, on average, two-thirds of the cost. That is a rather high average, but let's use it anyway. That leaves a cost for the insurance of $167 per month, something that is still pricey for these people but possibly manageable. Obamacare advocates would count all those people with these new Obamacare policies as now having insurance. But here is the problem: the policies that are being sold for those prices come with something like a $3000 to $5000 annual deductible. That means that before these supposedly insured people get medical care, they first have to spend $3000 or $5000 during a particular year on approved medical bills. That means that even with the subsidy, these people have to pay the premiums of $2000 per year and then a deductible of at least $3000. None of them can afford that amount. What that means is that essentially all of these supposedly insured young people will still not be able to pay for their medical care. The system will have failed them.
In case you think that the system might work better for those who are older, it will fail them too. Indeed, the older one is, the higher the premium for the insurance, so the cost, even after subsidies, goes up. The deductibles, at least, stay the same.
The net effect of the design of these policies is to guarantee that folks will still not have access to medical care. Obamacare may raise the number of people who can be called "insured", but it will do essentially nothing to improve the medical care of the American people. All those folks who make up the "uninsured" with no medical care will become the "insured" with no medical care. It's all just a sham.
Remember that the principal reason given by Obama for passage of Obamacare was to get insurance for the 45 or 50 million uninsured across the country. Obamacare was touted as a system that will cut that number of uninsured in half. The real truth, however, is now leaking out since the exchanges began going live. The reality is that many people who the government will force to buy coverage will have no meaningful access to medical treatment. Let me explain this.
All across the country there are millions of young adults who have no coverage now. Most of these folks have the ability under the current system to buy a policy for something in the area of $200 to $300 per month, but they do not do so because the $2400 to $3600 annual cost is just too much for them to afford. Under Obamacare, these people are mandated to buy a policy. The problem, of course, is that the policy will cost something like $400 to $500 per month unless they are able to get a federal subsidy. Clearly, folks who could not afford $300 per month cannot afford $500 per month. But many of these people will get subsidies. Let's say that the subsidy covers, on average, two-thirds of the cost. That is a rather high average, but let's use it anyway. That leaves a cost for the insurance of $167 per month, something that is still pricey for these people but possibly manageable. Obamacare advocates would count all those people with these new Obamacare policies as now having insurance. But here is the problem: the policies that are being sold for those prices come with something like a $3000 to $5000 annual deductible. That means that before these supposedly insured people get medical care, they first have to spend $3000 or $5000 during a particular year on approved medical bills. That means that even with the subsidy, these people have to pay the premiums of $2000 per year and then a deductible of at least $3000. None of them can afford that amount. What that means is that essentially all of these supposedly insured young people will still not be able to pay for their medical care. The system will have failed them.
In case you think that the system might work better for those who are older, it will fail them too. Indeed, the older one is, the higher the premium for the insurance, so the cost, even after subsidies, goes up. The deductibles, at least, stay the same.
The net effect of the design of these policies is to guarantee that folks will still not have access to medical care. Obamacare may raise the number of people who can be called "insured", but it will do essentially nothing to improve the medical care of the American people. All those folks who make up the "uninsured" with no medical care will become the "insured" with no medical care. It's all just a sham.
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