Posted on 12/03/2013 2:20:02 PM PST by SeekAndFind
If there’s one thing that feeds the ObamaCare beast, it’s young, healthy consumers — the same people who voted and worked to put Barack Obama in the White House twice. In order for the system to work, insurers need to get them into the system, paying exorbitant premiums for services they will likely never use, in order to keep prices down for older, less healthy Americans who not coincidentally tend to be more politically engaged. Gallup inadvertently tested that hypothesis and proved it its latest survey:
Americans younger than 30, a key group targeted by the Affordable Care Act, continue to be the least familiar with it. Another important group, those with lower incomes, are less familiar with the healthcare law than are those with higher incomes.
The new healthcare law’s success will rest at least partially on young Americans’ enrollment rates, given the need to have uninsured but healthy younger people sign up for insurance to help subsidize the cost of healthcare for those who are older and more likely to require benefits. These young people need to be familiar with the law if they can be expected to respond to its mandate requiring them to have insurance. There is clearly still work to be done on that front — with younger Americans significantly less acquainted with the law than those who are older.
That may be a blessing for Obama, since this law tends to get less attractive the more one becomes familiar with it:
Those who are familiar with the healthcare law are significantly more likely to oppose it than those who are not familiar with it. Among those familiar with the law, net approval is -19 percentage points, slightly more negative than is the case for the overall population. Those who are unfamiliar with the law are evenly divided, with 41% approving and 43% disapproving.
The overall approval rating for ObamaCare is now 40/54, and there is still plenty of downside left among the low-information adults in the survey. Just wait until most of them lose their employer-based coverage before the midterm elections, eleven months from now or sooner.
The Washington Post’s Sean Sullivan doesn’t think that the ignorance of youth is a good sign for Obama, though. The President needs young voters to become activists for his law, and — more importantly — make themselves subject to it:
A new Gallup poll shows that Americans age 18-29 are less familiar with the federal health-care law than any other age group. While 63 percent say they are familiar with the law, that’s nine to 12 percentage points lower than older demographics. An August Kaiser Family Foundation poll, meanwhile, showed that 43 percent of Americans age 18-25 and 41 percent of those between 26 and 35 had heard nothing about their new state insurance exchanges. By comparison, just 33 percent of all adults said the same thing.
Why does the lag matter? In short, because Obama needs a lot of young, healthy people to enroll in plans offered through the exchanges in order to keep premiums down and make the system work as it was designed. Specifically, he needs about 40 percent of enrollees to be younger than 35. (Sarah Kliff gives you everything you need to know about these so-called “young invincibles” over on Wonkblog.)
It certainly doesn’t help the president that young people seem to be the least attuned to the new law. What’s more, early problems with the federal health-care exchange Web site didn’t make it an easier for the administration to woo the young people it badly needs to sign up for coverage. …
Thanks in large part to the young, Obama won two terms in office. Now, the same youthful demographic will decide whether his signature legislation succeeds or falls flat.
When they see that they will have to pay thousands of dollars for comprehensive coverage they don’t need and spend thousands of dollars on deductibles before the first benefit is paid, young Americans will likely opt to pay retail and the fine and save themselves a lot of money. If disaster strikes, they can buy insurance at that point to cover it, thanks to the law Obama passed. Obama’s only real hope is that the youth remain ignorant and follow like sheep into the shearing yard. They’ve done it twice so far for Obama even with the economic incentives clearly marked out for them the second time, and there’s no reason to think they’re wising up yet.
Update: Right on time, here comes a pivot attempting to keep them distracted.
Sure, young Jayson fresh out of college, driving a ‘98 Civic, paying for car insurance, housing, food, utilities etc and making $29,000/yr, is going to happily sign up in the system and lose another Grand a month.
Only an ignorant person, or a fool, WOULD be engaged with Obamacare! I am surprised that an underground movement does not start, of “hackers” signing up thousands of imaginary “clients” for it, who then never pay their premiums, and thus overwhelm the hated system.
It's worked so far.
RE: making $29,000/yr, is going to happily sign up in the system and lose another Grand a month.
Doesn’t that make him eligible for a subsidy?
oh, be still my heart.
Cloward-Piven anyone?
Whatever you do, DON’T spread the idea of an underground Resistance signing up imaginary people to help sabotage Obamacare! It is FORBIDDEN to discuss.
Whatever you do, DON’T spread the idea of an underground Resistance signing up imaginary people to help sabotage Obamacare! It is FORBIDDEN to discuss.
Maybe all conservatives should try to get on all at once. seems like it would shut it down pronto.
So I am a 20-something, with little savings and mucho debt, and I want to desperately waste time on a nonfunctioning website and buy something I don’t need and probably won’t use at an exorbitant price so I can subsidize certain older people?? I don’t think so.
If disaster strikes, they can buy insurance at that point to cover it, thanks to the law Obama passed.
________________________________________________
I never had insurance when I was young...
Why would young people now ???
and especially since its not really “insurance”
insurance means you must be signed up and paying premiums BEFORE the fact...
They can buy healthcare insurance AFTER they get sick if they have an illness while they are young...
Unlike buying auto insureance after the fact or home ...
If I have no insurance and my house burns down or I have a car accident Im outa luck...
But if I have no healthcare insurance and get cancer or have a heart attack I can get insurance after the fact and still have my healthcare paid for...
or if Im under 26 my parents can pay for me long after Ive left home and married or have a passel of children of my own...
good deal...
why would I want to spend money I can use for a smart phone, ciggies or a car... ???
so if grandma needs a hip replacement does she still get one if theres not enough money in the pot ???
Jayson needs that extra grand to pay back his college loans.
Why you SELFISH little Whippersnapper! *SMIRK*
This is working on the other end, too. I have a few old hippies that I know who have gotten by for decades without health insurance of any kind. “Stickin’ it to Da Man’ and using the ER when they need to so We The People have been subsidizing them for decades already.
Now they’re OLD and the 0bamabots HAVE to buy what their messiah is peddling or face fines.
Oh, ‘tis a thing of beauty to watch! Tee-Hee!
P.S. You’ve been here since 1999? Signed up when you were a teen, did ya? Good for you!
...or those looking for a free lunch.
When they see what they’re in for, it’ll be like the day they got their first paycheck, thinking they’d get their wage times the amount of hours they worked. Reality sucks!
The young people don’t want Obamacare any more than they would want ObamaFlowers — Read on and pass it on!!
Obama Flowers - Have you ordered yours yet?
(Receptionist) Hello, Welcome to ObamaFlowers, My name is Trina. How can I help you?
(Customer) Hello, I received an email from Professional Flowers stating that my flower order has been canceled and I should go to your exchange to reorder it. I tried your website, but it seems like it is not working. So I am calling the 800 number.
(Receptionist) Yes, I am sorry about the website. It should be fixed by the end of November – or maybe December. But I can help you.
(Customer) Thanks, I ordered a “Spring Bouquet” for our anniversary, and wanted it delivered to my wife.
(Receptionist Interrupting) Sir, “Spring Bouquets” do not meet our minimum standards, I will be happy to provide you with Red Roses.
(Customer) But I have always ordered “Spring Bouquets”, done it for years, my wife likes them.
(Receptionist) Roses are better, sir. I am sure your wife will love them.
(Customer) Well, how much are they?
(Receptionist) It depends sir, do you want our Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum package.
(Customer) What’s the difference?
(Receptionist) 6, 12,18 or 24 Red Roses.
(Customer) The Silver package may be okay, how much is it?
(Receptionist) It depends sir, what is you monthly income?
(Customer) What does that have to do with anything?
(Receptionist) I need that to determine your government flower subsidy, then I can determine how much your out of pocket cost will be. But if your income is below our minimums for a subsidy, then I can refer you to our FlowerAid department.
(Customer) FlowerAid?
(Receptionist) Yes, Flowers are a Right, everyone has a right to flowers. So, if you can’t afford them, then the government will supply them free of charge.
(Customer) Who said they were a Right?
(Receptionist) Congress passed it, the President signed it and the Supreme Court found it Constitutional.
(Customer) Whoa.....I don’t remember seeing anything in the Constitution regarding Flowers as a Right.
(Receptionist) It is not really a Right in the Constitution, but ObamaFlowers is Constitutional because the Supreme Court Ruled it a “Tax”. Taxes are Constitutional. But we feel it is a Right.
(Customer) I don’t believe this...
(Receptionist) It’s the law of the land sir. Now, we anticipated most people would go for the Silver Package, so what is you monthly income sir?
(Customer) Forget it, I think I will forgo the flowers this year.
(Receptionist) In that case sir, I will still need your monthly income.
(Customer) Why?
(Receptionist) To determine what your ‘non-participation’ cost would be.
(Customer) WHAT? Your can’t charge me for NOT buying flowers!
(Receptionist) It’s the law of the land, sir, approved by the Supreme Court. It’s $9.50 or 1% of your monthly income.....
(Customer)interrupting) This is ridiculous, I’ll pay the $9.50..
(Receptionist) Sir, it is the $9.50 or 1% of your monthly income, whichever is greater.
(Customer) ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What a ripoff!!
(Receptionist) Actually sir, it is a good deal. Next year it will be 2%.
(Customer) Look, I’m going to call my Congressman to find out what’s going on here. This is ridiculous. I’m not going to pay it.
(Receptionist) Sorry to hear that sir, that’s why I had the NSA track this call and obtain the make and model of the cell phone your are using.
(Customer) Why does the NSA need to know what kind of CELL PHONE I AM USING?
(Receptionist) So they get your GPS coordinates sir
(Door Bell rings followed immediately by a loud knock on the door)
(Receptionist) That would be the IRS sir. Thanks for calling ObamaFlowers, have a nice day...and God Bless America.
Obama needs to rent a big stadium for an OFA event. Then, all the young, hip people who “care” will show up (promise some edgy hip minstrels will show up to warm up the crowd for the Big O’s speech).
Then, use NSA technology to steal the credit card info from all those young people and max out their cards to make this month’s ObamaCare payments for everyone.
Repeat in a different town each month, and ObamaCare becomes the success that it was always designed to be—a high tech, traveling snake oil salseman.
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