True, most people will try to get what they can afford.
I really don’t understand how insurance companies would think this is wise. Maybe my own thinking is too simplistic and am speaking out of ignorance (forgive in advance then) =
If I can’t afford your insurance anymore- I’d have to go with a cheaper option which I suppose could be Obamacare right?
How will insurance companies win if they lose a bunch of customers to Obamacare? I’m confused. Common sense says they’d compete with better prices and service for your business.
re: “How will insurance companies win if they lose a bunch of customers to Obamacare? Im confused. Common sense says theyd compete with better prices and service for your business.”
I make no claim to be an insurance expert, but I believe the answer to your question is that private health insurance companies, in order to not only remain solvent and profitable, must charge their customers the REAL cost of what has been mandated to them by the government.
Obamacare, on the other hand, simply tells the doctors/hospitals/pharmaceuticals, etc. WHAT the government is willing to pay and WHAT they MUST accept as payment.
In other words, the government can undercut what private companies charge every time because the government is not interested in competition - just control. The more people who leave the private insurance companies, the more who will come under Obamacare - the more the control. See how this works? It is diabolical - or in laymen’s terms: EVIL.
With govt-enforced mandates on service and the move toward govt-enforced controls on premium costs, how can there be competition? There can only be competition in free markets.
The health insurance industry has not been a truly free market for a long time (govt enforced coverage mandates within states and no ability to cross state lines to purchase coverage from a company whose premiums are lower because their state has fewer mandates, for example).
As others have stated, obamacare is structured to eliminate the private insurance industry. Articles like the nyt are intended to feed public outrage about greedy insurance companies raising their rates so that there will be political pressure to institute price controls on premiums.
We are on the fast track to a National HELLth Service
Obama care is a "Cadillac" policy. It requires, for instance, contraceptives, abortafacients, mental health counseling, zero deductibles, etc. One of the most cost effective insurance policies, of any kind, is a high deductible policy. This puts you in control of day-to-day expenses, where you can make cost effectiveness decisions, and yet covers you for major medical expenses. It also keeps the mountains of paperwork away. It is also illegal under Obamacare. In short, it is illegal for an insurance company to "compete with better prices and service for your business".