The White House confirmed yesterday that the average premium for health insurance sold on the exchanges for the middle level Obamacare policy will go up by more than 20% in 2017. This increase comes on top of the annual big increases we have already seen under Obamacare. President Obama promised Americans that each family would save $2500 per year once his plan was adopted. The reality is that most American families are paying many thousands MORE for coverage that is nowhere near as good as it was prior to Obamacare. And remember, that additional cost and reduced coverage doesn't count the hundreds of billions of dollars that Obamacare costs the federal government. When you add that in, the cost is at least another $2000 per family per year, and it is rising.
Let's look at an example. Prior to Obamacare going into effect, I used to pay about $450 per month for health insurance. I was part of a group plan run by the bar association. Obamacare, however, outlawed participation in that group and forced me to buy coverage on the exchange. In the first year, my new plan had essentially the same coverage, but it cost $800 per month. The next year, the coverage was reduced in dramatic fashion; I used to only need to pay a copay to see a specialist, but under the new plan all such visits were not covered until I hit the $6500 annual deductible. For this big reduction in coverage, I had to pay $960 per month. Then came the next year. The same policy went up to about $1100 per month. Now the carrier who sold that policy has stopped selling insurance on the exchange in Connecticut. The comparable plan is going to be substantially higher; I do not yet know the exact amount it would be, but at a 20% increase the monthly cost would be $1320. That comes to just under $16 thousand per year for one person.
There are not many Americans who can afford to pay premiums like these. Some people get subsidies, but there are millions who do not. On top of this, as the costs rise on the exchanges, they also rise in business plans. Employees who pay a percentage of their health insurance are getting hit with big increases as well.
The best way to describe Obamacare is that is has been a total disaster.
The worst of all this is that Obamacare is a disaster that everyone knew or should have known was coming. None of the price increases we are now seeing were unexpected. This disaster was predicted when the passage of Obamacare was being debated. It was a planned part of the law. The goal of Obama and his administration was to damage the health insurance industry to the point that the companies withdrew and left no other option than a single payer government system. That is still where they want to go.
The problem with single payer systems like the one in Canada or the UK is that people are often left to wait to get treatment. If you need a knee replacement in the USA, you can schedule the surgery in a week or so. If you need a knee replacement in Canada, it could take nine months to a year before the surgery takes place. If an elderly person in the USA needs some sort of expensive treatment, they get it. In Canada, many of the elderly are told to just take a pill for the pain and then left to fend for themselves. In the UK, the government system is so poor that most people who require advanced treatment go outside that system to totally private clinics that are not covered by insurance. That may work well for the wealthy, but for the middle class it is an impossibility.
America has to decide if we want to continue down the road to a healthcare system that provides equal but POOR healthcare to everyone or if we want to continue to support advances in healthcare and improvements for most while dealing with the flaws that arise from a market system.
Obamacare supporters tell us over and over about how many more people now have health insurance. But think about that claim. The overwhelming bulk of the new people with insurance are the very poor who were added to Medicaid. Those people did not need any of the rest of the Obamacare system to be put in place to get their care. If we had just upped the Medicaid coverage levels, we could have saved hundreds of billions and perhaps trillions of dollars. There are essentially no increases in those with health insurance outside of Medicaid. Even worse, a great many people who have insurance have gotten hit with huge deductibles. These people have insurance but they don't have health care because they cannot afford to pay for the deductibles.
So why is the so little coverage of the disaster that Obamacare has become? Surely, everyone can see this. Why does the media treat this as some sort of accident which will pass? The reality is that the media does not want to see Obamacare repealed because it would hurt their political party of choice, the Democrats. The health of America is too important, however, to be stuck in a political battle. It's time that everyone recognized this reality. Obamacare has to go. NOW!
Let's look at an example. Prior to Obamacare going into effect, I used to pay about $450 per month for health insurance. I was part of a group plan run by the bar association. Obamacare, however, outlawed participation in that group and forced me to buy coverage on the exchange. In the first year, my new plan had essentially the same coverage, but it cost $800 per month. The next year, the coverage was reduced in dramatic fashion; I used to only need to pay a copay to see a specialist, but under the new plan all such visits were not covered until I hit the $6500 annual deductible. For this big reduction in coverage, I had to pay $960 per month. Then came the next year. The same policy went up to about $1100 per month. Now the carrier who sold that policy has stopped selling insurance on the exchange in Connecticut. The comparable plan is going to be substantially higher; I do not yet know the exact amount it would be, but at a 20% increase the monthly cost would be $1320. That comes to just under $16 thousand per year for one person.
There are not many Americans who can afford to pay premiums like these. Some people get subsidies, but there are millions who do not. On top of this, as the costs rise on the exchanges, they also rise in business plans. Employees who pay a percentage of their health insurance are getting hit with big increases as well.
The best way to describe Obamacare is that is has been a total disaster.
The worst of all this is that Obamacare is a disaster that everyone knew or should have known was coming. None of the price increases we are now seeing were unexpected. This disaster was predicted when the passage of Obamacare was being debated. It was a planned part of the law. The goal of Obama and his administration was to damage the health insurance industry to the point that the companies withdrew and left no other option than a single payer government system. That is still where they want to go.
The problem with single payer systems like the one in Canada or the UK is that people are often left to wait to get treatment. If you need a knee replacement in the USA, you can schedule the surgery in a week or so. If you need a knee replacement in Canada, it could take nine months to a year before the surgery takes place. If an elderly person in the USA needs some sort of expensive treatment, they get it. In Canada, many of the elderly are told to just take a pill for the pain and then left to fend for themselves. In the UK, the government system is so poor that most people who require advanced treatment go outside that system to totally private clinics that are not covered by insurance. That may work well for the wealthy, but for the middle class it is an impossibility.
America has to decide if we want to continue down the road to a healthcare system that provides equal but POOR healthcare to everyone or if we want to continue to support advances in healthcare and improvements for most while dealing with the flaws that arise from a market system.
Obamacare supporters tell us over and over about how many more people now have health insurance. But think about that claim. The overwhelming bulk of the new people with insurance are the very poor who were added to Medicaid. Those people did not need any of the rest of the Obamacare system to be put in place to get their care. If we had just upped the Medicaid coverage levels, we could have saved hundreds of billions and perhaps trillions of dollars. There are essentially no increases in those with health insurance outside of Medicaid. Even worse, a great many people who have insurance have gotten hit with huge deductibles. These people have insurance but they don't have health care because they cannot afford to pay for the deductibles.
So why is the so little coverage of the disaster that Obamacare has become? Surely, everyone can see this. Why does the media treat this as some sort of accident which will pass? The reality is that the media does not want to see Obamacare repealed because it would hurt their political party of choice, the Democrats. The health of America is too important, however, to be stuck in a political battle. It's time that everyone recognized this reality. Obamacare has to go. NOW!
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