Posted on 02/16/2013 8:28:53 AM PST by eagleye85
Young Americans are faced with joblessness, skyrocketing school loans, and burdensome entitlement programs. Now, health care prices will be rising considerably, threatening “rate shock” on America’s consumers. Aetna is “cautioning that premiums for plans sold to individuals could rise as much as 50 percent on average and could more than double for particular groups such as the young and healthy,” according to the Washington Post’s N.C. Aizenman.
For Aizenman, the question is not whether these hikes are justified, but whether young consumers will skip health insurance entirely–and take the penalty instead.
“Most of the new rules that could push up premiums will not apply to plans sponsored by large employers, only to those sold to individuals and small businesses,” reports Aizenman. “These policies will be available on insurance marketplaces, or ‘exchanges,’ that the law sets up in each state beginning in 2014, and that are ultimately expected to serve about 26 million people.”
“The law will require insurers to offer a generous package of benefits for exchange plans, including coverage of maternity care, prescription drugs and treatment for mental illness. It also caps customers’ out-of-pocket expenses.” Other drivers for the expense, Aizenman reports, is the pre-existing conditions requirement and the fact that “insurers will be allowed to charge their oldest customers only three times as much as their youngest.”
“In most states, older customers are paying at least five times as much.” Hence, in a complete market failure, insurance companies will hereby be forced to charge the young more in order to meet a government quota rather than because the young are sicker than before.
Aizenman points to Jonathan Gruber, “an economist and key adviser to Obama during the debate over the health-care law,” as saying that in four of five states he studies, “more people will end up saving money than losing it” once you factor in tax subsidies. This MIT economist is widely known for his sunny predictions about Obamacare.
In addition, as I wrote in January 2010, Professor Gruber was “roundly criticized for promoting the Obama Administration’s health care reform efforts while receiving extensive government funding as a consultant—and not telling journalists about the connection.” The “[w]idely cited health-care economist […] accepted money from the federal government at the same time he advocated for reforms proposed by the Obama administration.” You can read more here.
“If these young and healthy people find the pinch to their wallets too painful, they could either go without insurance and pay a tax penalty or take advantage of a provision in the law that allows those younger than 30 to buy a high-deductible ‘catastrophic’ plan that will presumably be cheaper,” writes Aizenman. “Gruber doubts that either option will prove popular.”
“The $1,600 or $2,000 annual price tag many will be facing on the exchanges is still an appealing deal, [Gruber] said–especially in light of the nearly $700 minimum penalty they will have to pay for failing to get insurance by 2016.” Gruber seems to be living in an alternate universe. As a recent Harvard Institute of Politics study shows, Millennials today are 9.7% unemployed. As for the underemployed, 31.2% of Millennials currently work on a part-time basis.
While these numbers may not sound like much to a middle-aged person presently faced with much higher health care costs, these part-time employed 20-somethings are likely to feel the pinch of an extra $1,600 or $2,000, not to mention $700 as a penalty. The “Affordable Care Act” doesn’t seem quite so affordable, does it?
The way Obamacare is written, they'd be foolish to want to get insurance. Since the idiot law prohibits pre-existing conditions from being excluded, they can pay the penalty now, and when they get sick, just sign up for insurance. It's like going without car insurance until you're in an accident, and then dialing up a car insurance company and wanting coverage for the accident you just had. Aren't politicians geniuses?
The same ones that keep spending money that doesn't exist, yeah.
Let’s see. Spend $2,000 a year or $20,000 a year. Which makes the most economic sense?
More proof of the saying:
If you think healthcare is expensive now just wait until its free.
Surprise! The Affordable Care Act doesn’t mean affordable coverage after all!
Those who voted for Obama both times are in for a shock on a lot more than health care premiums. This is just the beginning.
As the saying goes, elections have consequences.
So they move into their parent's basements and go post on the Internet smearing the “evil” Republicans ,smearing capitalism and praising Obama as that becomes their full time job
Hey dumb liberals/democrats, believing in and trusting government is no way to go through life
Libtards don’t mind if Obamacare fails. They will use that crisis to push for single payer socialized medicine, which is their real goal.
The reasons are myriad, but in large measure are directly related to the intervention of government and policy wonks. It pays much more and gives you a much better lifestyle if you spend your time as a ‘policy wonk’ instead of actually doing something useful (like practicing medicine) for a living.
It's only going to get worse.
And you voted for it. Consider it sensitivity training.
My guess is that many young people will tell the gov't to pound sand and won't buy coverage OR pay the fine. What does the govt intend to do with probably millions of newly minted law breakers? You can't get blood from a turnip, and I think a high percentage of these poor guys are going to become turnips.
Garnishment of future wages???
Primarily Obama voters. They are sure Obama and the Dems will save them. The sooner and more painful the consequences, the better.
Hey. No worries. Obama said he would care for them in his 13th, 14th and 15th terms in office. They wanted him. They voted for him for free stuff. Well, they are stuck with him and the results of their lives because of what he did. This will destroy America more and more for years and years. Good luck for those young folks who fell for the garbage of the King of DC.
You are correct.
2+ generations of progressive controlled education (preschool thru grad school) has worked well for liberal goals.
Young adults now know far more about “climate change” than the US Constitution.
Simple solution. Get rid of the insurance companies. Healthcare was better and cheaper before them. And now they are threatening us and some of you aren’t seeing that showing them the door is the way out.
That’s exactly what the authors of 0bamacare had in mind, but they want the bankrupted insurance companies to be replaced with a monstrous federal bureaucracy.
I do not think that this is correct. As a seasonal paid tax preparer, we are seeing guidance that taxpayers, lacking proof of coverage, will have the penalty added to their 'tax burden' like early withdrawls from a TIRA and the 'SE' tax. So the computation of penalty will be done in the tax season of 2015 for failure to carry insurance in all of 2014 regardless of refund or balance due status.
I believe that this is similar to the current Massachusetts "RomneyCare" setup but obviously the bells and whistles of the IRS still are being built as we speak. I will note that I am seeing many employers and payroll companies (like ADP) already putting the "DD" line indicator for health insurance coverage on this year's W2s. Precursor to the nightmare to come!
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